Grand Theft Autumn
by EilayAdnayVolieay
Summary: [JackOC] Jack survives the shooting and makes a new friend in the process. What happens when a little girl he cares about is kidnapped, and he's falling for his best friend in the process? Read and find out.
1. Shoot out at the Mercers

**A/N:** Well I'm unsure of how this is going to go but I wanted to try a Four Brothers story. I want it in the beginning to be a bit Jack/Brothers seeking revenge related. Starts after Jack gets shot, only he gets shot once instead, and lives. Same theme I suppose as most stories since majority didn't want Jack to die, but hopefully it will be different. Please read and review, let me know what you think. As for the title, I don't know if it will have anything to do with the story really, I just couldn't think of a name, and I was listening to that song by Fall Out Boy at the time, so... yeah. And this shoot-out thing is changed slightly just because I didn't feel like watching the movie again to make it more exact other then the 'Jack dies' part.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers doesn't belong to me, because if it did, Jack would have lived. And he didn't... so yeah. Also the name of this story is the name of a song by Fall Out Boy, also not mine. I guess the "Grand Theft" part reminded me of the Four Brothers and their run-ins with the law, and the song name is cool... so... yeah. I don't know if it will have anything to do with the story, but if I decide it will I'll let you know in a future chapter.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_**EilayAdnayVolieay**_

Chapter One: Shoot-out at the Mercer's

"JACK!" Bobby shouted. His youngest brother, Jack, had gotten up to answer the door, but a man in a hockey mask shot at him. Bobby ran outside but quickly turned back around when more men started shooting.

"Damn it!" Bobby cursed, jumping down to the ground. His brothers did the same, and Angel threw a gun at Bobby. Jeremiah, who always disapproved of violence, was lying flat on the floor in the kitchen. Sofi, Angel's girlfriend, was on the floor in the living room. Bobby shot a few bullets outside through the window and ducked down before shouting at Sofi. "Damn it woman make yourself useful and call the ambulance!" Sofi glared at him, as she usually did when he talked to her like that. Carefully she reached for her cell phone that had fallen on the floor, but quickly drew her hand back as a glass picture frame got shot at. Shards of glass flew around Sofi but she grabbed her phone and dialed.

"There's a shootout, a young man has been shot, we need an ambulance," Sofi exclaimed. She quickly told them the address.

"YOU LIKE THAT!" Bobby shouted, shooting and successfully killing one of the men. He shot down a few more and cursed loudly as he realized he was out of bullets. Angel, meanwhile, had been upstairs shooting, but he noticed Bobby had stopped. He saw the man in the hockey mask approaching Jack to kill him, and Angel jumped out the window, rolling on the little roof of the house and falling to the ground. Avoiding the shooters as best as he could, Angel shot the man in the hockey mask and fell down to the ground. Those who had survived, ran, and the brothers didn't chase after them. Bobby and Jeremiah ran outside, Sofi not far behind them.

"Hey Jack, wake up, Jack, come on..." Bobby said softly. Jack was still breathing faintly. He moaned and Bobby grabbed his hand.

"Wake up, Jackie, Jerry's kids are going to want to get to know their uncle... Crackerjack," Bobby replied softly again, laughing lightly. They could hear the sirens from the ambulance in the background, getting closer and closer. The brothers felt a weight lift off of them, relieved that the ambulance would soon be there to try and help their 'baby' brother. Jacks eyes under his eyelids twitched, and fluttered opened. Jeremiah grabbed his other hand and Angel lifted his head up a bit to see if he had hit it when he fell.

"Your going to be alright, Jack, I promise." Bobby said. Jack smiled faintly and shut his eyes. Bobby began to panic, but Jeremiah pointed out that Jack was still breathing. The ambulance arrived, as did the police who had responded to a call from one of the neighbors. Bobby, Angel, Jeremiah and even Sofi were not allowed to go in the ambulance with Jack. The police wanted to have a little talk first.

"Bobby, Bobby, Bobby..." Green shook his head. "What happened here?" Green asked. Bobby went into detail quickly of how they had been in the living room, and Jack had gotten up to answer the door. For whatever reason he went outside, and it ended up being some sort of trap and he got shot at. Reinforcements had soon arrived, but those who survived ran off, afraid. Green looked around at the mess.

"So, do you need to take us down to the station? Because if you do, I think we should get it over and done with, you can do the fake hair routine again if you want and then we can leave. In case you didn't notice, our baby brother was shot and we want to see how he's doin'." Bobby replied. Green nodded.

"I understand completely, Bobby. I don't think it will be necessary for you and your brothers to be taken down to the station. Seems to me, you and your brothers were being attacked. Acting quickly, you shot in self-defense. We questioned the neighbors, the ones who saw how it started. Go see your brother, we'll deal with things here," Green replied. Bobby nodded, grateful to the officer. He and his brothers got into Jeremiah's car and drove to the hospital.

"Who's the new patient?" an elderly nurse asked the Doctor that was assigned to the third floor.

"That, is Mr Jack Mercer. I have a feeling he'll be here for awhile healing from that gunshot wound. He's _very_ lucky he wasn't killed! We'll have to wait until the test results come in, but I have a feeling that he doesn't have any major or serious internal injuries, it missed his heart luckily. He'll need to go in for an operation to have that bullet removed, and he dislocated his shoulder, but that's all very minor compared to what injuries most people in that situation would have suffered," The doctor replied. The elderly nurse smiled.

"Sounds like someone had a guardian angel watching over them," she replied. The doctor looked at her, but said nothing. He didn't share the same religious beliefs as this elderly nurse, but he greatly respected her and she was a wonderful nurse who had been there for awhile, and he wouldn't say anything against her beliefs if it meant discouraging her. He left to see another patient, and the nurse put Jack (and the bed he was lying on) into the room he would be considering his for the next while.

"What do you mean I can't see him!" Bobby shouted at the Doctor, who began walking away. Jeremiah stepped forward, having kept silent most of the time.

"Sir, please... he's our brother, could you at least tell us how things are going with him?" Jeremiah asked. The doctor sighed, knowing that if he didn't at the very least do that, these three brothers would bother him endlessly until he got off work. Sighing again, he motioned for the brothers to sit, and did so himself.

"Other than the fact that he has a bullet in him, he's doing much better then we expected. The only injury is a dislocated shoulder, which can be fairly easily put back in place. He'll need to go in for an operation to have that bullet removed, but its not an overly long process. _After_ the operation is done and over with, then you can go in and see your brother. He most likely won't be awake, however, so you probably will want to head home, get a good night's rest, and come back tomorrow when he should be awake." The doctor got up and began to walk away, but Jeremiah stopped him.

"Wait, sir. How long will this operation take?" Jeremiah asked. The doctor shrugged. "Perhaps at the very least an hour. Could be more, depending on if there are complications or not. Could be less if it runs more smoothly then expected." Bobby and Angel sat down as the doctor walked away, but Jeremiah remained standing.

"I have to drop the girls off at gymnastics, I'll drop them off quickly while Jack is in the operation and come straight back, hopefully long before its over." Angel looked up.

"You better, Jerry."

"What the hell is going on? He should have been out ten minutes ago!" Bobby cursed. Angel was pacing, and Jeremiah still hadn't returned.

"I'll kill Jerry, 'Oh I'll come straight back,'" Angel mimicked. Finally one of the doctors on staff, after an hour and a half total had gone by, said they could see Jack.

Jeremiah at that moment was in the waiting room, panting, having run from the parking lot all the way up the stairs to the third floor.

"Sorry I'm late, there was a big accident and we had to wait, and then take a detour, then the parking lot was full and the elevator was broken— " Bobby stopped him.

"Listen Jerry, what's important is that you're here now. They took the bullet out... we were panicking because it was a while after one hour, and he wasn't out yet. They said the reason they took so long was because they had to put his shoulder back into place. Apparently though he broke his leg, which they didn't realize until after they started to move him. We're allowed to go in and see him now, so lets go," Bobby said. They asked a nurse what room he was in and went to it. There was a young woman inside with him, making the other bed beside him.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I'll only be in here a moment more and then I'll leave you alone with Mr Mercer. I'm just getting this bed ready for another patient, who'll be arriving later today." the woman smiled briefly and Bobby sat down on a chair next to Jack. Jeremiah told the young woman that she was no bother as she was after all only doing her job.

"Oh, this? Its not my job. I volunteer at the hospital, sometimes they ask me to do things like this to help. There," she replied, finishing adding the bedding, "I'll leave you alone now," she replied, leaving the room. Bobby smirked.

"Stop by anytime, sweetheart." he muttered. He heard Jack groan and his attention was once again focused 100 on him. He looked at the wound, all bandaged up. It appeared that Jack had lost a lot of blood, even to say he had been shot. Bobby tried not to let it worry him, but he was only to well aware of how the doctors at the hospital liked to sugar coat the truth when it came to the family of the patients.

"Think he'll wake up while we're here?" Angel asked. Jeremiah shook his head.

"No way. He was in a lot of pain when he got shot. They would have to give him a sedative, put him to sleep while they removed the bullet. He'll probably be out for quite awhile," Jeremiah replied. Bobby paid no attention to this, however.

"Bobby... you can't stay here all night," Angel replied. Bobby held Jack's hand for a moment, then stood up.

"Why the hell not!" Bobby shouted. Jack groaned again and Bobby lowered his voice.

"We can't just leave him here alone..." Bobby looked down at Jack again. Jeremiah sighed.

"I know how you feel, man, but what can we do? I can bring you guys back first thing tomorrow." Jeremiah replied. Bobby shook his head.

"Not yet. You take Angel back, I'll try not to be too long, I'll find a way home. And Jerry? We're still going to stop Victor." Bobby promised. Jeremiah sighed, nodding and went over to Jack.

"You better get well soon, Jackie," he replied. Angel went over, said some words, and left.

"I'm gonna get a picture of ma for him, this room is depressing," Angel replied, and he and Jeremiah left.

Bobby woke up, wondering where he was. He saw Jack lying in the bed and remembered he was at the hospital. The was now a little girl in the bed beside Jacks. She was watching a movie with a bunch of animals in a zoo. Bobby wasn't a big children's movie fan, but he looked at the case lying on the table and saw that the movie was called Madagascar.

"Well, at least someone woke up," the young woman from earlier replied. She set down coffee next to Bobby. "Thought you might need some coffee," she replied. Bobby thanked her and drank it. She walked over to the little girl and set down a tray of food for her. Bobby looked down at Jacks face and sighed. He thought back to when he, Angel and Jack had gone to find out what gang shot up the liquor store. _"What do I get?"_ Jack had asked. _"Here you go sweetheart, poke 'em with this." _Bobby had handed him a crowbar. He regretted now some of the things he had teased Jack about... like his tongue ring, saying he was gay although he didn't think that his little brother was gay. Deciding that he should start heading home, he grasped Jack's hand before leaving for their mothers home... the one he was starting to consider his again.

Bobby and Angel were pacing around outside the house the next morning waiting for Jeremiah. He had said he would be there at 8:30 and it was now 8:31. Yeah, they were a little impatient and panicky. Jeremiah pulled in at 8:33 and Bobby jumped in the van.

"What took you so long?" Bobby asked. Jerry looked at the clock on the radio.

"I'm _three_ minutes late... how is that considered taking a long time?" Jeremiah asked. Bobby shrugged. Angel, sitting in the back (Bobby had called shotgun), spoke up.

"After we visit with Jack for a bit, are we going to deal with Sweet or what?" Bobby looked back from the front.

"I think it may be best if we plan this through. 'Winging it' won't do. Jackie getting shot has really opened my eyes. Losing ma was tough, but almost losing Jack was worse. It made me realize how important family is, and it makes me regret not coming back more. All those holidays I missed spending with you guys... I regret it, I really do. If anything happened to you guys too, I don't know what I would do." Bobby looked out the window, and kept silent for the rest of the ride. No jokes, no 'witty' remarks... just silence.

When they arrived at the hospital, nurses and doctors were running around. Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel looked around. What was going on? It wasn't until they saw the doctors coming out of Jack's room that they panicked and tried to get in. Some doctors held them back.

"Sir please, wait out here." the doctor replied. Bobby stopped trying to get in, and banged his hands on the wall, tears coming to his eyes. He couldn't lose Jack... he just couldn't. The doctors finally left the room, and the three brothers ran inside.

**A/N:** Oooo a cliffhanger ;) I'm evil, I know. I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP for you guys, but don't worry... I don't intend to kill Jack off, so there's no need to panic... but I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Its my first attempt at a Four Brothers story, and I'd appreciate any tips, comments or errors pointed out greatly. Thanks bunches

- Jess


	2. Getting Sweet

**A/N:** Wow thanks for the reviews. That's the most I've ever gotten for a first chapter of a story in such a short span of time. It means a lot. Just so you know, if you are a signed reviewer and I feel the need to reply I will use the reply link. If you are an unsigned reviewer and you wish for me to reply, leave your email so I can alright? I will answer most questions or just chat, but I can't answer questions that will give anything away. The reason the summary mentions Jack and another character is because well hey all my stories usually contain some minor romance at least, and I've read reviews of other Four Brothers stories and found a lot of people liked Bobby and said there weren't enough with him and some OC so I'm going to try to do both later on. The summary for the story sucks, but its just temporary until I find something more suitable. That's all from me so I'll let you read the chapter now :)

-Jess

**Disclaimer:** Again, Four Brothers doesn't belong to me. Do you seriously think a cutie like Jack would be dead if it WAS mine?

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Two: Getting Sweet

Bobby was in the room first and saw Jack in his bed, his eyes closed. _Oh no!_ Bobby thought to himself. _Please don't let Crackerjack be dead... _He saw that Jack was still breathing, his chest rising and lowering as he did. Jeremiah tried to ask one of the nurses why so many doctors were running in and out of the room, but then his eyes fell upon the little girl in the next bed. Angel and Bobby followed his gaze and saw her too. She was pale as could be, her eyes shut, and she didn't appear to be breathing. A nurse came in and pulled the covers over her head, and put her and the covers on a bed with wheels and took her out of the room.

"That's just terrible..." Angel said softly. Bobby felt a pang of guilt when he realized he was just grateful that it wasn't Jack who had died. A little girl was dead, but he was still grateful it wasn't Jack. _I guess I shouldn't feel so bad... its sad that she was so little and died, but I didn't know her. _Bobby reasoned with himself and sat next to Jack. Jeremiah and Angel pulled up chairs on the other side of Jack's bed.

"Think he'll be awake soon?" Angel asked. Jeremiah shrugged.

"Maybe." was all he said. Bobby stood up and went over to the window. He felt as if Jack being in the Hospital was his fault. _I should've gotten up to answer the door... I should have told Jack to leave it... _Bobby thought. He twisted everything bad that had ever happened to Jack and made it out to be his fault. It made him feel bad, which is how he thought he should feel.

"Bobby, he's waking up!" Angel cried out. Bobby turned around and saw Jack's eyes flutter open. He rushed over to Jack's side and grabbed his hand.

"Hey, Jackie... how are you feeling?" Bobby asked. Jack tried to sit up a bit but stopped when he felt pain.

"I've felt better..." Jack said. He was still a little groggy. He noticed Bobby was holding his hand. "Dude what are you doing?" he asked. Bobby smirked.

"Hey, I wasn't there to hold your hand while you were growing up so I am now. You really worried us, Crackerjack," Bobby replied. Jack looked at his brothers and saw that Bobby wasn't kidding. They all looked worn out, like they hadn't slept much.

"Very funny Bobby. Do you know how long I'll have to stay here?" Jack asked. He had always hated hospitals, even from when he was a kid. They all smelled like cleaning stuff, and they all looked the same... painted bright colours to try and lift up the mood, but all hospitals were depressing no matter what colour they were.

"I don't know, the doctors haven't told us much other then you broke your leg. I don't know how, but apparently you did." Jeremiah replied. Jack grimaced.

"So that's why it hurt when I woke up this morning... I tried to shift positions but it didn't turn out well.." Jack replied. Bobby stood up.

"You thirsty, Fairy?" he asked. Jack licked his lips a little.

"A little." Jack admitted.

"Alright then. What do you want to drink?" Bobby asked. Jack shrugged. "I don't know, surprise me." he replied. Bobby ruffled Jack's hair before leaving. Jeremiah spoke up.

"You really did have us worried. Bobby especially... I know he teases you a lot Jack, but he doesn't mean it." Jeremiah lifted his head up as he heard the door open again. He figured it was Bobby, but it was the volunteer again.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize his family would be here already." she apologized. She set down the tray she was carrying on the table next to Jack.

"Breakfast." she said. She kneeled down next to the bed and Jack looked away. _What exactly is she...? Whoa! _His thoughts were interrupted as the back of the bed began to rise. She smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, but Doctor Johnson ordered me to make you eat no matter what. If you ever want to sit up like you are now, just push this button on the back of the bed here," she indicated. Jack nodded, not saying anything. She set up the tray in front of him so he wouldn't have to hold it, and left. Bobby was coming in as she was leaving and opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"Make sure your brother eats. By the way, call me sweetheart again and you'll be sharing this room with your brother," she replied. Bobby was about to object when she added, "I have excellent hearing." Bobby laughed and sat down. Jeremiah just shook his head.

"She's a lot younger than you," Jeremiah replied. Bobby laughed.

"Jerry, when I start dating women younger then me, they won't be hospital volunteers I can guarantee you that. You know me, I flirt with any woman who's attractive whether their my type or not." Bobby replied. He set down some coffee in front of Jack and looked disgustedly at the breakfast tray. "Hospital food... never did care for it." Bobby said. Jack laughed, remembering the one time Bobby had been in the hospital after a hockey game, and he threw the tray at the wall, saying the food was much better as art then something to actually consume.

"Its not that bad... although it does taste funny." Jack admitted.

After he finished eating his breakfast, the doctor that the volunteer had referred to as Doctor Johnson entered. Bobby immediately stood up.

"Is there a problem doctor?" he asked immediately. He was just waiting for the doctor to tell them that something was horribly wrong with Jack. He worried about his little brother a lot, and tried to look out for him. When he thought that one of the guys who had killed their mother was alive, he made Jack stand back further. He didn't want him to get hurt, and now, he felt as if he had really let him down. The doctor shook his head.

"No, there's no problem at all. You can relax, Mr Mercer. We have your brothers test results back, and as we suspected he is fine other then of course the wound and broken leg. We want to keep him here awhile longer... he had a slight fever last night, so we want to make sure he's alright. If he were to get sick, it would make his wound more vulnerable to infection, which would not be good. It _is_ doubtful that he will get infected, but we feel that it is better to be safe than sorry, and it is a possibility, so we want to keep him awhile longer. I realize you haven't been here long," the doctor added, "but your brother needs some rest. You may come back later, but to make sure he doesn't get sick, we want him to drink as much fluids as possible and of course rest up for awhile." Jerry, Bobby and Angel stood up. They usually would have put up a fight, but they didn't mind. They had other business to attend to.

(A/N: From this point on, they've already planned what to do to Victor Sweet and it starts off with Bobby and Victor fighting)

Bobby ducked as Victor went to punch him, and shoved him down to the ground. The wrestled around for awhile until finally Victor fell in the hole they had cut with the chainsaw in the ice. Bobby stood up, and dusted himself off.

"Bastard gave me a paper cut!" Bobby replied. Jeremiah just shook his head.

It was later on in the day, and Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel were all down at the police station being questioned.

"Damn it Bobby, we know you know what happened to Sweet. So start talking." one of the officers, who knew Bobby from his past run ins with the law, asked. Bobby shrugged.

"Whatever happened to him is his business." Bobby replied. The officers asked him a few more questions before they called in Angel.

"Angel, we know you and your brothers know what happened to Sweet. Bobby pretty much told us as much, unintentionally. Why don't you give us your story, maybe you and your brothers can get off easy." the officer replied. Angel shrugged.

"There's no story to tell. After our little brother got shot, we decided to let go of trying to get revenge, and focused on Jackie. You know how close brothers are." Angel replied. The cop asked him more questions and then called in Jeremiah. He was hoping to get at least some kind of answer out of him. Jeremiah came in and sat down.

"Jerry, Jerry, Jerry... you kept clean for so long, and then you go and mess it up. Why did you let Bobby get you back into the old routine?" the cop asked. Jeremiah looked at him, straight in the face.

"I'm still clean. Our little brother was shot because we made the wrong people angry, trying to find out more about our mothers death. Do you think we'd really try and go after Sweet after that? Lots of people had every reason to get rid of Victor. He pissed off more people than just us. Green and Fowler knew about Victor being behind our mothers death, among many others." Jeremiah defended. The cop sighed, and didn't ask anymore questions.

"Just get out of here. But if I hear of _any_ trouble involving you and your brothers, I won't hesitate to throw you all in jail. I suggest you remind your brothers that Detroit is trying to clean up, and that we don't need their bullshit." the cop opened the door and Jeremiah walked out. Bobby and Angel were laughing about something.

"Do I want to know?" Jeremiah asked. Bobby shook his head.

"Probably not Jerry. Besides, not something I'd say in front of your kids," Bobby added. Jeremiah shook his head.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about the two of you. How about we all go see Jackie now?" Jeremiah suggested. They all agreed and since the hospital was nearby, they decided to go about things the healthy way and walk for a change. They got in the hospital, but only a certain amount were allowed in at a time. They voted that Bobby, Angel, Jeremiah and the girls go in first. Then Camille and Sofi would go in, and the girls would stay in there for a bit.

"Hey Crackerjack," Bobby said as they walked in. He sat down and put Amelia on his lap, and Jeremiah sat down putting Daniela on his lap. Jack smiled at the girls.

"Hey..." he replied. The girls both said in unison, "Hi Crackerjack," they replied. He laughed faintly. _Bobby just had to teach them that name... well I guess its better then Fairy... _he thought.

"So Crackerjack, hospital food still disgusting?" Angel joked. Jack shook his head.

"No and that's scaring me. I've been here one day actually eating and I'm already used to it... disgusting." he added. He looked over at the clock that was on the table next to him. "What took you guys so long?" he asked. Bobby looked at the girls, and decided it would be best to save the exact details for when young ears weren't around.

"We had some business to tend to involving Sweet. You know how it is," Bobby replied. Jack looked over at Jeremiah and Angel. Jeremiah was focusing on Daniela in his lap, because he didn't want her to pay attention to the conversation, however brief, about Sweet. The brothers stayed in there for a few minutes and then left, letting Sofi and Camille come in to talk to Jack for a bit with the girls.

Out in the halls, the three brothers were sitting down waiting for the women and the girls to come out.

"Does he sound like he's doin' good to you?" Angel asked Jeremiah, who shrugged.

"I don't know... I think the medicine is just getting to him, that's all. The hospital food doesn't help either," Jeremiah joked lightheartedly. Bobby saw doctor Johnson and walked up to him.

"Mr Mercer, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the doctor asked. Bobby looked back at his brothers.

"Would you consider it a pleasure? Anyway, I want to know how long you think Jack will need to be in the hospital." Bobby asked. He was hoping it wouldn't go over Christmas, but if it did he, Jeremiah and Angel would make it work. The doctor sighed.

"I don't know for sure, Mr Mercer. Your brother at this time seems to be doing well, responding to the medicine. He'll of course need a cast on his leg which will be done first thing tomorrow, and his arm will need to be re-bandaged as well. I would guess that if things go as well as they have been with him, then he should be out by the end of this week. Of course this is merely an estimate and can increase or decrease over time, it really depends on your brother." the doctor replied. Bobby looked in Jack's room.

"He's a mercer, doc. He won't be here much longer."

The day for Jack to get out of the hospital had finally arrived. Of course, he couldn't use crutches because he needed to keep the pressure off of his wounded shoulder, but he also couldn't walk with a broken leg. That meant that Jack was stuck with a wheelchair... something he really didn't like.

"Why the fu— " Jack started, but Bobby covered Jack's mouth with his hand. He smiled at a nearby nurse to cover up for Jack.

"Listen Fairy you can't just swear like that, there are kids all over the place on this floor," he reminded. Jack nodded. The hospital had hired a 'Santa' to come to the hospital to cheer up the children patients that would be stuck there over Christmas. "Besides, you can't walk and you can't put too much pressure on your shoulder. Unless you want to come back here to eat the same old disgusting hospital food, I suggest you get used to the wheelchair because you'll be stuck with it for awhile. Now we have to hurry," Bobby added. Jack looked up at his older brother, confused.

"Why do we have to hurry?" he asked. Bobby pushed the wheelchair outside into the winter night.

"Because we were invited to dinner by a very kind elderly nurse, who would be very sad if her favourite patient was late," Bobby added. Jack shook his head and laughed.

"Oh, so your trying to set me up with an old lady now?" Jack asked. Angel and Jeremiah laughed.

"No..." Angel replied.

"More like her gorgeous granddaughter," Bobby finished. Jack looked like he was ready to jump out of his wheelchair, but Jeremiah pushed him back.

"He's joking, Crackerjack. Although she does have a granddaughter your age, but we didn't know that until _after_ we accepted the invite." Jeremiah replied. Bobby and Angel switched off for pushing the wheelchair and stepped in front.

"She invited us, and out of the _goodness_ of our hearts— " Bobby started.

"Goodness of your hearts my ass.." Jack muttered.

"We accepted. Then her gorgeous granddaughter walked in with the groceries and of course out of the goodn— okay because she was about to drop the bags she was carrying and things were about to get messy we helped her carry the bags and we got introduced to Alex, the gorgeous granddaughter, and Becky, the adorable little sister." Bobby finished. Jack groaned.

"Try anything and I will hurt you... as soon as the cast is off my leg and my wound heals," Jack added. Bobby laughed.

"Aww, why Fairy, because you dig guys instead? The old nurse mentioned having a grandson, maybe we can see if she'll invite him over as well for you huh?" Jack glared at him and started to get up again but the pain in his shoulder stopped him.

"I'm not gay." was all he said.

**A/N:** There's a bit of a longer chapter for you guys just because my exams are next week and I don't know if I'll get a chance to post any up. Oh, for future reference, its most likely that I will only actually post up a chapter on weekends since I'm usually not allowed on during the week to make sure I do school work, but sometimes exceptions are made and I usually still work on the story offline during the week. Of course excluding next week since I will be studying. Thanks to all who reviewed, your comments mean a lot, and thanks in advance to those who review this chapter.


	3. Dinner

**I A/N:** Well I decided to start working on this on Sunday night, now whether or not I get it posted I don't know (by Sunday night, I mean the 22nd of January...) . Now, just a bit of family history for the elderly nurse... she married a guy, and had a DAUGHTER. That daughter is the 'granddaughter's' mother, so yeah... just to clear up some things (possibly) for future reference. Oh and I can't remember, but I think that I said in the previous chapter that the 'granddaughter's' little sister's name is Becky, but I could be wrong and if I am I'll change it later. Thanks to all who reviewed, and... uh... enjoy the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers doesn't belong to me blah blah blah if it did Jack would be alive etc etc. Good enough? Good.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Three: Dinner

"Damn Jackie why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?" Bobby asked. Jack laughed.

"Your complaining about _me_ being a pain in the ass?" Jack asked. Bobby shook his head.

"See that's your problem right there, Crackerjack, you always have to change the subject and twist it so its not about you. Come on, I know you don't have to take that medicine now. Your just looking for an excuse to run up to your room so that you can lock the door and never come out." Bobby accused. Jeremiah shook his head and Angel had to leave the room before he said something. Jack however didn't keep his mouth shut.

"_Run_ up the stairs Bobby? Have you failed to notice the fact that I'm in a wheelchair, with a broken leg? I won't be running for quite awhile." Jack pointed out. Bobby laughed.

"No shit Fairy, its just a saying." he replied.

They were currently back at the Mercer house, since Jeremiah had left his cell there and really didn't want his wife to call just to find out that he wasn't answering. Of course, he wouldn't know she was calling, but she would assume otherwise. Besides that, Angel had to tell Sofi where he was going. She disapproved at first, but reluctantly agreed that they could go to their dinner and she would have a little 'girls night out' with some of her friends. After she was out of earshot, Bobby snorted.

"'Girls night out' my ass. She's going to get herself a little somethin' somethin' while your gone, guaranteed." Bobby teased. Angel glared at him but it was only when he saw Sofi smiling through the window that he stopped himself and waved to her.

"Bobby I told you don't talk about my girl like that!" Angel exclaimed. Bobby rolled his eyes and said nothing. It was best if he let this fight die while it was still 'young' so that it didn't continue later. He looked at Jack to see if he was acting any differently, but he wasn't.

The drive was silent, and a bit awkward since Angel was still upset with Bobby for talking about his 'girl'. Finally Bobby stopped the car.

"Get out." was all he said. He was talking to Angel, who was looking confused.

"What you talking about man? Come on we don't want to be late for this thing," he replied. Bobby didn't start the car.

"Well Angel if you're going to be a little whine-ass baby back there because La Vida Loca is going to have a bit more fun tonight then you agreed to, then you can get out. Or if you can be a man and just shut up and remember that we are going to a nice old lady's house by invitation and we want this nice old lady to have a good impression, you can stay. Its up to you, but I think we all know that the latter should be going out the window right about now." Bobby waited a moment, but Angel didn't get out of the car, so he started it up and continued driving. He pulled in the parking lot of an apartment building and they got out. Jeremiah had to take the girls to gymnastics again, so he had taken Jack's wheelchair and left early to drop the girls off. He was already at the building, waiting with Jack's wheelchair. Jack tried to hurry to get out on his own, but Bobby came over with the chair and he and Angel helped him in it. They pushed him up the ramp and got into the elevator. After it stopped, they got out and headed to the elderly nurse's apartment and knocked. A girl's head appeared in the doorway as she opened it.

"Oh, hello. My grandmother's just touching up her lasagna that she made, but come in and make yourselves comfortable." She replied. Jack thought the voice sounded familiar and looked up. It was the hospital volunteer who had helped him out a lot while his brothers were out. Between getting him his meals brought over, and changing his bandages when the doctors didn't have time, that sort of thing, he had seen her a fair bit. He still had no idea what her name was, as he usually looked away when she came by. He found it horribly embarrassing to be in a hospital and taken care of, however temporarily, by a woman. It was supposed to be the other way around, at least that's what he figured. _I think Bobby mentioned her name... Alex... _Jack thought to himself.

"Oh good you're all here, and look its Jack too," the elderly nurse, Mrs Williams replied. She rushed over to Jack and pecked him on the forehead. "I'm glad you felt up to coming. Are you feeling better?" she asked. Jack forced a smile and nodded. He wasn't used to being treated like he was a 9 year old visiting grandma, but it somewhat reminded him of his mother. Mrs Williams had often peeked in to check up on him while he stayed at the hospital, and snuck him some extra dessert since she knew he didn't eat all of his other food. She was really nice and almost felt like his grandmother, one he had never had.

"Yes, Mam, thanks." he replied. Bobby pushed his chair into the apartment and they saw a little girl sitting on the couch watching TV. She looked up and saw the Mercer Brothers and quickly looked away, shy. Jack started to roll his wheelchair over towards her, shocking Bobby who had been basically leaning on the wheelchair just to feel it move.

"Excuse me Mrs Williams, where is your washroom?" Angel asked. Mrs Williams smiled and led Angel down the hallway. The volunteer, Alex, motioned for Bobby and Jeremiah to sit down.

"Would you guys like anything?" she asked. Jeremiah politely asked for just some water and Bobby snorted.

"I think Jackie-O would like _you_, huh Crackerjack?" Bobby teased. Jack looked over at Bobby and shook his head.

"Leave it _alone_ Bobby." He replied. Alex smiled... she knew from her childhood that brothers often teased and fought with each other. She went out to the kitchen and grabbed Jeremiah some water, and grabbed some juice for her sister.

"Here you go... Jeremiah, is it?" Alex asked. Jeremiah nodded and thanked her. She walked over to her sister, and handed her the juice. Becky made a face. Sighing, Alex asked, "What's wrong with apple juice?" Becky put it down on the table.

"I don't like apple juice." she replied.

"What do you _mean_ you don't like apple juice? That's your favourite!" Alex replied. Becky shook her head.

"Not anymore. I like orange juice now." Alex rolled her eyes and went to take the apple juice back. Jack grabbed it.

"I'll drink it..." he replied. Alex smiled.

"Thanks, it's a big glass so I'd hate to pour it out. Alright now, so you want ORANGE juice Becky?" Alex asked. Becky nodded, so Alex left. Bobby and Angel, who had returned from the washroom, started to laugh. Jack took a sip of the apple juice and looked over at them.

"What?" he asked, confused. Jeremiah saw what they were laughing at and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Bobby stopped for a moment.

"Oh nothing Crackerjack, just that you're drinking from a... what's that things name?" Bobby asked.

"You're drinking from a Sponge-Bob Squarepants glass Crackerjack... very masculine," Jeremiah supplied. He knew because his kids sometimes watched that show, although they liked other cartoons better, like What's New Scooby Doo and Recess, stuff like that. Jack glanced at the glass and shrugged.

"What's it matter? You call me Fairy anyways, whether I drink from a kiddie glass or not." Jack added. He took a drink and glanced in the direction of the balcony. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going out on the balcony for a smoke. I haven't had a cigarette for awhile and I really could use one right about now," Jack wheeled over to the door, and Becky got up to get it for him. He smiled at her.

"Thank you. Becky, right?" Jack asked. Becky nodded shyly and shut the door behind him. Alex came back in with Becky's orange juice and headed into the kitchen to take out the lasagna. It only needed to cool before it would be done. Her grandmother was out in the living room, playing hostess with Bobby, Angel, and Jeremiah. Alex decided to go outside to get some fresh air, and saw Jack smoking.

"Should you be doing that so soon after getting out of the hospital?" she asked. He glanced over at her and took another puff. She shook her head. "Its bad for you, you know. Although I'm not one to judge... I smoked when I went to college." she explained. He didn't say anything and she rubbed her arms, cold. "Well, dinner's almost ready, so try to finish this cigarette quick alright?" she said. He nodded, although he hadn't really paid attention to what she said. Feeling it was to cold out and that Jack at the moment wasn't much company, Alex headed inside.

"Mmm, I haven't had lasagna this good since I was living back at home with ma. You remember that time Jerry? It was after the hockey season was over and I had moved back in. Man, she knew how to cook a meal. I wonder if she's still got that cookbook lying around?" Bobby pondered aloud. Jack was sitting at the table, next to Bobby and the little girl Becky, who was staring at him. He finally glanced over at her.

"Shouldn't you be eating or something?" he asked her quietly. He hadn't wanted to cause any disruption... he saw that his brothers were relaxed, and they hadn't looked that relaxed for quite awhile. Every time they had come to visit him, they were always tense. They were slowly returning to their usual, laid back selves. He didn't notice Alex and Angel look over at him. Becky glanced at her plate and poked at the lasagna with her fork.

"Its still too hot." she complained. He decided to just deal with her staring at him, although it did really freak him out a little. Finally Becky asked,

"Why do you need a wheelchair?" Alex glared at Becky, but Jack laughed.

"Is that all that was bothering you? I need a wheelchair because my leg is broken, and with my shoulder I can't use crutches." Jack explained. He had left out the part about being shot... this kid didn't need to know that, he figured.

"Oh because you got shot? I heard Alex and Grandma talking about it," she added. Jack looked over at them. Alex was laughing at a joke that Angel had told her about a redneck farmer, and Mrs Williams was talking to Jeremiah. Bobby was watching him.

"Yeah, because I got shot." Jack took a mouthful of his lasagna and began to eat, hoping that Becky was done asking questions. She was still staring at him, so he assumed that she had more. After swallowing, he put down his fork and looked over at her. "Any more questions?" he asked. She nodded.

"Why did you get shot?" Becky asked. Alex looked up.

"Becky I think that's a rather personal question, don't you?" Alex asked. Jeremiah, Angel and Bobby all looked over at Jack. They had never themselves asked him why he had even left the house at all.

"Its okay, but I'll need to leave out some details," he set down his fork and saw everyone had looked up now, and felt a little embarrassing. _I'm just answering the kids question so she'll stop staring at me, but this feels a lot like bragging..._

"My brothers were arguing and someone knocked at the door. I answered it, some guy called my mom a... bad name, so I told him off, went to turn around and got hit in the face with a snowball. Ran outside, got shot. They shot at me because..." Jack trailed off. He didn't really know what reason he could give to this little girl. What was he supposed to tell her? "Oh they shot at me because my brother pissed their boss off by looking for our mothers killer and then shooting their professional shooters"? That wouldn't work.

"They shot at Jackie here because he's our little sister, the baby in the family," Bobby supplied. Jack glared at Bobby.

"I'm your little brother, not sister Bobby. Can you lay off the jokes for one night?" Jack asked him tiredly. Bobby laughed.

"I'd say something to that but it's a bit too inappropriate for this dinner table." Bobby shoved lasagna in his mouth and swallowed before continuing, "All those names I've been calling you must be true after all though, I haven't seen you even look at Alex here, let alone ask her out." Bobby replied. Jack glared at him.

"Excuse me Mrs Williams, but its time for me to leave. Dinner was very good, thank you," Jack replied and he worked his way off of the chair on his good foot to the wheelchair and sat down. Mrs Williams went to object, but he didn't give her time. He was out of the dining room, out of the apartment before she could even speak. Jeremiah looked at Bobby and shook his head.

"You just had to pull that didn't you?" Jeremiah asked. Bobby waved his fork at him.

"Stay out of it, I'm still older than you," Bobby wiped off his mouth with his napkin and stood up. He hated to leave the delicious lasagna (his favourite meal, remember) but he knew he had to run after Jack. Alex saw what he was planning to do.

"Er, Bobby, I know its none of my business, but Jack seemed a bit... mad, at you. Shouldn't someone else go? Besides, you haven't finished dinner," Alex pointed out. Bobby sat down.

"Who do you suggest then?" he asked. She stood up.

"I needed to get more orange juice anyways, and I'm done eating. Neither of you," she indicated Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel, "are." She took her plate out to the kitchen, put it in the sink and headed out to the door. She grabbed her coat and was off. Bobby was sitting at the table, smirking.

Jack hadn't made it to overly far... the fact that he was in a wheelchair really slowed him down, but he didn't care, as long as he was away from Bobby. It pissed him off when Bobby pulled that at _their_ dinners, but at someone else's?

"He accepted that invite out of the goodness of his heart my ass," Jack muttered. "Bobby probably knew before that the old nurse's granddaughter was the hospital volunteer. He came to visit me enough, he left often enough to get me something to drink." Jack kept rolling along but found it hard to cross the street. He saw that there was no one coming, but there was the minor detail that he was a little slow in his wheelchair and looked a little short. Anyone who didn't notice him would...

"Hey Jack, wait up." Alex called. Jack groaned. Great, he runs off on his lonesome and his brothers send the girl they tried to hook him up with.

"They never quit, huh? And besides, where the fuck am I supposed to go that's faster then you running?" Jack rolled anyways, because he really wanted to be left alone. Alex stopped behind his chair.

"What do you mean they never quit? I volunteered to come get you, I volunteer a lot." She added. Jack didn't laugh and kept rolling. "So what, you were going to leave your lasagna back there? I had to fight Bobby for it," she added, pulling out the wrapped up dinner. Jack glanced at it.

"I'm not hungry. Well, right now. But since I know it would be hard to fight Bobby for that, I appreciate the effort. He's probably in there crying right now." Jack grabbed the lasagna (that was in a container) and put it in the bag on his chair. He continued to wheel himself away.

"What, are you going to just try to go home on that thing?" Alex asked. Jack didn't give an answer, but the fact that he kept moving made the answer obvious. "Jack come on, I'm sorry your brother was being a pain in the ass, but that's not my fault." She replied. Jack stopped for a moment but continued.

"Your right. Its my jackass brother's fault, but do I care?" Jack asked. Alex opened her mouth to say yes, but Jack glared at her. Sighing in defeat, she walked over to his chair.

"I can push this wheelchair faster than you can try to wheel along, so why don't you let me help you, and maybe your brothers will lay off of the... I'm assuming gay comments." Alex offered. Jack didn't object, so she started wheeling him along home. _I wouldn't date her,_ Jack decided, _but she is friendly... _

"So..." Alex replied a few minutes later. Jack looked up at her.

"So what?"

"I don't know... I was just... saying so..." Alex replied lamely. Jack laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked. Jack stopped laughing.

"Nothing I just remembered when... Bobby burned down the treehouse that Jeremiah built. It was funny..." Jack lied. Alex accepted the story.

"Oh really? Tell me about it."

"JACK! Where have you been, do you have any idea what time it is?" Bobby asked. Jack looked at the clock in the living room.

"It's 10:00. My curfew when I lived here with mom was later than that when I was 17, and I'm a fair bit older than that now," Jack wheeled over to the couch and stood on his only good leg to get off of his chair. Bobby waited for him to say something, but when he didn't, he decided to ask.

"So did you ask her out?" Bobby asked. Jack glared at him.

"Damn it Bobby fuck off will you? No I did not fucking ask her out because I wouldn't go out with someone like her, but we happen to be... semi-friends, so we talked a bit and took a little longer than necessary getting here. For once, stop trying to set me up with people. If I want a girlfriend, I'll ask someone out, but otherwise stay the fuck out of it unless I ask you." Jack exclaimed. He hopped over to his chair and went to the stairs before he realized he'd have some trouble getting up. Angel went over to help him up the stairs, and Bobby leaned back.

"Just friends my ass. There's nothing wrong with Alex!" Bobby shouted to Jack. Jeremiah looked at him. "What?" Bobby asked.

"Nothing, your just an idiot is all. Jack's not a little kid anymore Bobby," Jeremiah told him. "The sooner you realize that, the better. Let the kid fight his own battles, and let the kid find his own girlfriend."

**A/N:** Well that's the end of that chapter. I know I said that I wouldn't work on it through the week but I guess I lied, since I did. My exams are over but I get next week off so hopefully I'll get lots of updates in for this story and some of my other ones then. Sound good? I think it does. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, here's the chapter you guys wanted, that's all. By the way, although I _do_ know who Jack will be with and so on, I can't answer any questions about if Jack will be with Alex or if he'll be with someone else. Why spoil the fun?


	4. Family, Friends and Chicks

**A/N:** Well thanks to those who reviewed, it means a lot for me to know you guys like this story. I see some of you are already wanting Alex to be with Jack... for all you know, she might not be wink wink Well she may, and she may not. Only I know for sure, hmm? Basically though, this isn't a story where their going to just suddenly realize (whoever 'they' may be) that they are madly inlove for each other and meant for each other... so those of you expecting that, sorry, that's not how this will be at all. Also I can't remember how long a cast needs to stay on, I think about 2 months or more, but for this story I'm stretching it a bit and saying one month is all it takes... just so everyone is aware of that. Oh, and Jack may seem a little out of character around the little girl Becky, that's because I'm making him have a soft spot for children and of course he and Alex have become basically best friends now.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers isn't mine... this story, plot, some OC's... they are. So no... TOUCHY! Heh... I like that word now all of a sudden.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Four: Family, Friends, and Chicks

A month later, Jack could finally get out of the wheelchair. Jeremiah said that he would take it to the hospital, and Bobby thought they should celebrate with a game of hockey.

"I think it's a great way to show you're all better, huh Jackie?" Bobby asked. Over the past month, Bobby had laid off some of the comments a bit... not entirely, after all it was just tough brotherly love, and brothers tease each other all the time, but he had cut back on the comments. It was more bearable for Jack now, so he just dealt with it. Of course he'd still have to make a big deal out of it... but he didn't feel the need to explode anymore. Jack looked at his watch.

"Okay, I have time for a game or two, but then I have to go meet Alex." Jack replied. Angel came down the stairs, Sofi not too far behind him. Bobby laughed.

"Getting a little close don't you think?" Bobby asked. Jack rolled his eyes, pulling on his sweater.

"We're just friends, Bobby. Its not like this counts as a date," Jack reminded him. Bobby laughed and put his arm around Jack.

"Oh really? How do you figure?" Bobby asked. "Maybe she thinks of it as a date," Bobby pretended to be bending down outside to tie up his shoelace, but when Jack wasn't looking he made a snowball and threw it at him. Jack wiped the snow off of his face.

"Dude that was NOT cool!" Jack shouted. They threw snowballs at each other for awhile, and then saw Angel coming out of the house. They both tossed snowballs at him, hitting him in the face.

"Aw come on man that's not cool!" Angel exclaimed. Calling a truce, they began walking to the rink.

"And Bobby? If she thought of it as a date, why would she be bringing her little sister along so we can go to the mall and take her to see Santa?" Jack asked. Bobby stopped and shook his head.

"And you agreed to go? Jackie, that's just a bit..."

"Don't say it, Bobby." Jack replied. They reached the rink and played a quick game of hockey with some guys that were already down there. Jack lost track of time and saw Alex and Becky standing at the side of the rink. He skated over.

"Sorry, Bobby wanted me to play some Hockey, guess I lost track of time." Jack replied. Becky put her arms up in the air, wanting to be picked up. (A/N: She's 7... I don't know if I said how old she was before or not, but from this point on she's actually 7...) Jack reached down to pick her up.

"Hey Becky, excited about seeing Santa?" Jack asked. Becky nodded her head furiously.

"Actually we came a bit early, and Sofi told us that you guys came down for a quick game." Alex replied. Jack skated over to Bobby who was slamming one of the guys up against the wall.

"Hey, Bobby! We're going to go take Becky to the mall now, I'll finish this game with you guys later." Jack replied. Bobby skated over and ruffled Jack's hair.

"Hi Becky. Hey listen, make sure Crackerjack here sits on Santa's lap too okay?" Bobby joked. Becky nodded and Jack shook his head.

"You just can't let it go..." Jack skated over to the edge of the rink and handed Becky to Alex. He jumped over the fence around the rink and took his skates off, putting back on his shoes.

"Bye Fairy!" Bobby called out, before scoring a goal on Angel who was playing goalie. Jack rolled his eyes and got into Alex's car.

Alex slowed down her car and pulled into the mall parking lot. Becky practically jumped out of the car the moment it stopped and Jack had to run up to her and hold her while Alex walked up to them.

"Someone's excited," he replied. Alex grabbed Becky's hand, but Becky pulled away and ran and hugged Jack.

"I want Jack to carry me!" she replied. Jack laughed and stuck his tongue out at Alex.

"Haha, she likes me better than you!" he teased. Alex rolled her eyes as Jack picked Becky up and led her to the center of the mall where the kids were lined up to see Santa Claus. Alex was lagging a bit behind and smiled in Jack's direction. He flipped Becky around on his shoulders and she squealed as he pretended to drop her. Alex looked away quickly when she caught herself staring.

"Hey look Becky, there's Santa!" Alex exclaimed. Becky squealed again and jumped down from Jack's shoulders. He caught her and set her down. The lineup wasn't too long, so they decided to wait there now and get it over with. Alex smiled at Jack.

"Thanks for coming with me. People always look at me weird when I come here with her..." Jack shrugged. The line moved and Becky ran up to the man dressed as Santa and sat on his lap, saying what she wanted for Christmas. Then she got off and grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him up towards Santa.

"Your turn!" she replied.

Bobby laughed and actually had to dry his eyes as tears of laughter filled them. Jack glared at him.

"Its not funny, Bobby, she wouldn't let me leave until I sat on the fucking guys lap. I have no idea who the hell he was and I had to sit on his lap and tell him what the fuck I wanted for Christmas. Between Alex laughing at me and the people who stopped shopping to watch, it was embarrassing. NEVER tell Becky to do anything again, because she actually listens to what people tell her," Jack stabbed at the ham he had made them for dinner and rearranged his plate. Jeremiah, who had come over to dinner (Camille was doing a mother-daughter night with Amelia and Daniela), finally couldn't hold in his laughter. Jack dropped his fork.

"Man not you too!" he exclaimed. Angel, as a promise to Sofi, had to take her out to dinner to make up for the other night when they didn't have a dinner alone as they had planned.

"Why the hell would you listen to Becky anyways?" Jeremiah asked. Jack shook his head.

"Because if I didn't sit on the guys lap she was going to cry. You should have seen her, _I_ almost cried just looking at her. Then she told me that Bobby would be mad at her if she didn't make me sit on Santa's lap, and she got all sad... damn it stop laughing Bobby its not funny!" Jack shouted. Bobby shoved a piece of ham into his mouth.

"Speak for yourself Crackerjack, I'm ready to shit my pants over here from laughing," Bobby laughed and got up.

"And just where the hell do you think your going?" Jack asked. Bobby rolled his eyes.

"Its called the bathroom, Jackie."

The next night, Bobby decided that he, Angel and Jeremiah were going to take Jack to a bar to try and hook him up. Of course, he couldn't tell Jack that... so he said it was a dude's night out to just drink and hit on chicks. Jeremiah of course couldn't go... it was his and Camille's anniversary and they had plans.

"Man you're a pain in my ass you know that?" Bobby replied. They were standing outside of Jeremiah's house, and Angel shoved Bobby.

"Man leave Jerry alone. Maybe if you had a girlfriend, you'd know how important an anniversary was. Hell you tease Jackie about being gay, and yet I haven't seen you with a girlfriend in God knows how long!" Angel replied. Bobby shoved him back, and Angel tripped and fell into the snow.

"Gee little brother, how easily you forget that you haven't seen me for years." Bobby patted Jack on the back.

"Looks like we're the only real Mercer men, and that's saying something considering you're a---- hey!" Bobby exclaimed, wiping snow off of his face. He looked down at Angel who was grinning triumphantly.

"Oh that's it man you're dead!" Bobby ran after Angel, and Jack shook his head.

"Man when these shit heads are done with their little snowball fight, tell them I headed to the bar." Jack walked off, and Jeremiah sat down. It was going to be awhile.

"Shit little brother you could have waited!" Bobby exclaimed as he walked in with Angel, both of them soaking wet and still a bit covered in snow. Jack laughed at the site of them.

"Yeah, but you know if I would have, I never would have gotten that pretty little waitress' number would I?" Jack nodded towards one of the waitresses and Bobby looked at the number.

"Huh. What do you know, it actually looks genuine. Maybe you aren't gay after all," Bobby teased. Jack took a drink from his beer.

"Whatever, man."

**A/N:** That was a short chapter, I realize. It was more of an establishment chapter, let you know where things are standing for this phase in the story. Basically, Jack's leg is all healed up, Christmas is coming, Jack and Alex are just best friends, and Jack has a little waitress girlfriend. Well, she will be his girlfriend, anyways. Don't worry, I know you guys are all freaking out, but trust me you will be happy with the end results... things aren't always what they seem after all :D Review, let me know what you think of this story so far.

**NOTE:** I am so sorry. When I updated a chapter for my story, "A Marauder's Tale" I had this chapter ready. That was about 3 weeks ago or so. However for some reason, my story DIDN'T show and neither did any of them. So, I was unable to update but now my stories are showing meaning I can edit them, and meaning I can post this. So soooooooo very sorry for the delay.


	5. Say hello to little Rebecca

**A/N:** I am really sorry I didn't update sooner. Not because I just didn't work on the story, but for whatever reason my computer isn't showing my stories for some reason. However it DOES let me upload the actual chapters, and at school I'm in my computer class (communications... we make these posters and computer animations) and now I just found out that its working again. Lol I just saw it now... SO with that said, NO MORE DELAYS! Whatever problem it was, I cleared all my history and so its working... odd... what happened was I had my one story, I updated a chapter. I had a chapter for this story (the previous one) and went to update it and suddenly, without me doing ANYTHING at all, it didn't work. It worked at school yesterday, but this morning it didn't at home again... anyways, long story short, I'm capable of updating again which I haven't been able to for over a week, so here's a chapter. Sorry for the delay. And the title of this chapter is a bit misleading since I think I know that you are immediately thinking of someone else... lets just say Little Rebecca is only... 7 years old, did I say?

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothersnot mine. End of story (but not this story)

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Four: Say hello to Little Rebecca

"So tell me Jackie-o, when are we going to get to meet this girlfriend of yours? You've been holding out on us Jackie. When are we going to get to meet this little waitress?" Bobby asked. It was raining outside, and they were sitting in the house watching a hockey game. Jack shook his head.

"She's busy. I'm busy. You'll meet her when you meet her." Jack took a swig of his beer and put it on the table next to the couch. Bobby grabbed his head and started messing up Jack's hair. Then he tossed Jack forward.

"Messed up your hair now Fairy. Whatcha gonna do?" Bobby teased. Then he noticed how Jack's hair didn't look much different. "Damn. Probably just helped make your hair look better, that's what some of the punks that like your hair style would think, right?" Bobby tossed Jack a pack of cigarettes.

"There you go Fairy. Bought you your smokes." Bobby replied. Jack grabbed them gratefully and lit one.

"Thanks Bobby. When did you leave the house?" Jack asked. He took a puff of his cigarette and then set it down in the ashtray. Bobby stretched and saw that there was a break in the hockey game.

"Last night. You may have been young when you first came here, but surely you remember how often I used to sneak out when I was back home. Only now, I don't need to sneak." Bobby got up and went into the kitchen. Angel and Sofi had gone out, to spend some time together which Sofi believed they needed. Jeremiah was at his home with his kids, and his wife, spending some quality time with them. So it was just Bobby and Jack that day, watching the game. Jack finished his cigarette just as the phone rang.

"Mercers," he replied into the phone. The past little while a lot of calls had been coming in for their mother, Evelyn... from people who still didn't know she was dead. It tugged at the brothers hearts every time someone called, because then they were constantly reminded that their mother... was dead. They knew she was dead obviously... but they tried to move on past it, and they kept being reminded of it every day.

"What's with the formalities?" a female voice on the other end asked. Jack smiled.

"Oh hey Rachael. Sorry, I thought it was somebody calling for my mom again." Jack explained. He was on the cordless phone, so he got up and went into the kitchen to check their dinner. He was making spaghetti, nothing special. Bobby was in the kitchen eating the cheese that Jack had out for the spaghetti.

"Hang on a second, Rachael. Damn it Bobby stop eating that, its for dinner!" Jack grabbed the towel off of the counter and slapped Bobby's hand with it. Bobby laughed.

"God you sound like such a woman right now Jack." Bobby laughed and grabbed the wooden spoon.

"OH! WHOSE GOT THE SPOON _NOW?"_ Bobby asked. Jack sighed.

"Hang on Rachael, Bobby's being an idiot, this will take about 3 minutes or so." Jack put the phone down on the counter and looked at Bobby. "Put... the spoon... _down."_ Bobby threw the spoon back and forth between his hands.

"And if I _don't?_" Bobby asked. Jack sighed and attempted to grab the spoon, but failed.

"Come on Bobby..." Jack tried to grab the spoon again but Bobby held it high into the air. Jack grabbed it easily.

"Damn, I forgot your taller than me now... not the same as when you were just a little kid huh Jackie?" Bobby replied. He grabbed another beer from the fridge and went back into the living room. Jack rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone while putting the spaghetti into the water.

"Sorry about that, Bobby was being an ass again." Jack replied into the phone. There was a laugh on the other end.

"Something to do with a spoon? I heard part of it," Rachael laughed again. "So what's going on? Have more people called about your mother today?" Rachael asked. Jack sighed.

"Yeah... a few. Man she had a lot of fans out there," Jack replied softly. He really missed the woman that he had known as his mother. He knew he had been a bit of a tough kid to understand at first, but Evelyn had managed it. Jack remembered how he had had his doubts at first... that she could ever be kind, that she could understand why he was so awkward at first. But she impressed him, and he truly wished he had been around more. Nobody had been around less than Bobby, but Jack still knew... he could have came to visit more. He had gotten caught up in his band, and they told him they needed a break from music for awhile anyways, so he could take his time at his old home.

"I know Jack... so what are you doing tonight?" Rachael asked. Jack switched the phone over to the other ear and replied, "Don't know. Cooking for Bobby's lazy ass first. Watching the hockey game. Usual boring things, I suppose. I might actually go up to my room and play my guitar for a bit, but I really don't know for sure." There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Oh." Rachael replied. She didn't say so then, but she had been hoping to get to see Jack for a bit. Maybe go out somewhere. But she understood, it was his family, family he hadn't seen a lot and really needed. That's what she told herself, but deep inside she knew she was upset that Jack was always with his family more than her. They had gone out on two dates and they had been basically a couple for a month already. It just wasn't right that she never got to see him. She always called him, not the other way around.

"And you?" Jack asked absentmindedly. He knew that Rachael was a bit disappointed that he hadn't said he was going to try and see her, but he didn't really care that much. They had never officially said they were a couple, they had went out twice. So she could date whoever she wanted, and so could he, was the way Jack looked at it.

"Oh... just... sitting at home. My room mate went out with her boyfriend tonight," Rachael added, hoping Jack would pick up on the hint. He did, but he didn't bite.

"That's nice. Listen I gotta go Rachael, I'll see you around." Jack replied. He hung up the phone, and Rachael at her home sighed. Jack always said that... "I'll see you around." But he never did. He always said that and then she never saw him. She wondered if she was just being a thorn in his side by calling him every day. Had she been led on?

"You didn't talk very long," Bobby called from the living room. Jack decided to grab some orange juice instead of beer and headed back into the living room.

"Didn't need to."

"Jackie, Jackie, Jackie... what am I going to do with you? You've gone out with this chick twice, last I heard." Bobby cursed as his favourite hockey player missed an easy shot.

"And last I heard Bobby, she was my girlfriend. Let me deal with her my way," Jack replied. They watched the game for awhile in silence before Jack got up to dish out their dinner.

"I guess that's why you never have girlfriends when I come home huh Crackerjack?" Bobby asked. Jack wiped his mouth before replying, "Yeah, because you were home so often Bobby."

"Don't start with me Jack. I'm serious. Do you even like this waitress?" Bobby asked. The phone rang, saving Jack from having to answer. He wasn't sure if he really liked Rachael. She was nice, and attractive, and he enjoyed her company, but did it go beyond that at all? Was she his type when it came to girlfriends, or more of a one night stand type girl? He took the phone into the kitchen and leaned against the counter staring out the window at the falling snow.

"Mercers." Jack replied. He was shocked when a little girls voice on the other end answered him.

"J-j-jack?"

"Becky? Hey kiddo. Where's your sister, did she dial my number for you?" Jack asked. He heard a male's voice muffled in the background and became confused. Alex didn't have a boyfriend... and when she did have a date, she never brought him to her grandmothers where her little sister was. It just wasn't done.

"I... I have to get off now Jack. The man says I have to. He wants to talk to you now... I'm sorry, Jack, I didn't mean to— but he said Alex was hurt, and..."

"That's enough Rebecca." the man's voice was slick, cool... Jack immediately grew panicked and went into the living room. He turned off the TV which caused Bobby to curse, but when he saw the worried look on Jack's face he stood up and mouthed, "What's wrong?"

"Hello. Am I correct in assuming this is Jack Mercer of the Mercer brothers? The one that cheated death?" the man on the other end laughed and Jack heard Becky's sobs muffled in the background.

"What do you mean, _cheated_ death?" Jack asked. Bobby tried to grab the phone but Jack swatted his hand away. There was a slight pause on the other end.

"I think you know what I mean Jack, and this is not a time for your games. Perhaps it works on the pathetic cops who let most away with murder easily, but not with me. Listen closely, Jack Mercer. You were _not_ supposed to live that day of the shooting. Do you understand? We had planned to shoot you, not any of the other Mercer's... and yet you survived. That was not what we had wanted, not what we had planned, and because you didn't die like you were supposed to after getting shot... you cheated death. So now, I'm not trying to kill you... yet. Instead, I'm attacking you where your weakest... starting with little Rebecca. Say hi, Rebecca." the man put the phone near Becky, who tried to scream but it was clear her mouth was soon covered.

"Why Becky?" Jack asked, trying to hold back his anger. This man seemed to act as if they knew each other, and Jack wanted to keep him on the phone as long as possible so that he could try to recognize his voice, match his voice to someone he knew.

"Because you care about the little girl. I don't know why a Mercer would unless it was their own, but for some reason, you care. And guess who else you care for? Why there's little Rebecca's grandmother, I know she reminds you of your own dear dead mother, and then there's... Alex. Not Rachael, you don't seem to care for her to much, at least you don't when you talk to her... and you rarely ever see her at all. In fact I believe you're with Alex more than you are with your own girlfriend, now I wonder why that might be? And don't try to recognize my voice... I've changed a lot since you and I last spoke. On that note, I think now would be a very good time to hang up. Good-bye, Jack. I'll be in touch. And perhaps you should go find Angel and Sofi... before I do. And what about Jeremiah, and his wife Camille? Their children, Daniela, and Amelia... we wouldn't want anything to happen to them now would we..." with that said, the man hung up the phone, but Jack didn't set it down. He stood for a moment, silent. Why would someone want to get to him so badly? And more importantly... would he be able to warn everyone he cared for that they were in danger, just because he cared for them? Bobby looked at Jack questioningly, but Jack didn't say anything then. For awhile, he didn't say anything at all.

**A/N:** OH A CLIFFIE! ducks from things angry readers are throwing Hey now, that's not nice... I had to have another cliffie. I'm famous for them, so be warned that when any story gets interesting there is most likely going to be a cliffie. I have to admit that I seriously never planned on this whole kidnaping thing whatsoever, and I had the whole story planned out BEFORE I wrote it... but I think it works well, and it means this story will be a tad longer than I had planned on it originally. Hope you enjoyed, review and I might just update this story early D


	6. Becky's Missing

**A/N:** I am really, REALLY sorry about the update delay. Especially so close after another one. I did again have a valid reason; this time it was my grandmother getting sick. She was in the hospital and I couldn't tie up the phone line. But while she was in the hospital we were fixing up her house (she has emphysema and because she can't smoke we wanted to get all the cigarette smoke out of the walls, etc) so I never even had time to work on any story. Which is why you'll notice that until now none of them were updated. Here's the latest chapter, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers isn't mine. Duh. I've only been saying that for HOW many chapters now?

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Five: Becky's Missing

For several minutes, Jack said nothing. There was nothing he could say. Now, because he had befriended Alex and her little sister Becky, they were in danger. Because he had survived the shooting, his brothers were also in danger, when before… they would have been safe. At least safer than they were now. And it was all his fault… thoughts such as this continued to run through Jack's mind. He always found a way to blame himself for anything that happened. He blamed himself for Evelyn's death, because if he had come home more often, and stayed with her, she could have been protected. It could have been him that died instead of the sweet old lady he knew as his mother.

"Jack?" Bobby asked, interrupting Jack's thoughts. He looked up at his brother and blinked away stinging tears. Bobby pretended not to notice.

"Bobby… it… it was Rebecca. Listen I don't have time to explain, we have to get Jeremiah, Camille, Daniela and Amelia away from their home. We need to get Angel and Sofi back here, and we need to tell Alex that… that her sister's been kidnapped." Jack replied. He grabbed the phone and without bothering to explain, he called Jeremiah to tell him to take his family somewhere that they would be safe. Anywhere but their own home.

Alex yawned. She was at the hospital late again, helping her grandmother out with some of the patients. Her little sister, Becky, was at the baby-sitters and was probably already sleeping peacefully in her bed. Alex wished she could say the same about herself, since she had been at the hospital already 10 hours straight. Volunteers usually didn't stay that long, but here she was, volunteering to help out and work until late.

"Alexandra could you please grab the gift that came for Miss Hampton here? You were sleeping and your parents didn't wish to disturb you," Alex's grandmother replied to the young patient. She couldn't be much over seventeen, and was in the hospital with a bad fever. "And they were a little late getting somewhere, so they just left it." Alex left the room and walked down the hall quickly. She hoped that the quicker she got it done, the quicker she might be able to get out of this hospital. One of the younger nurses came up to her.

"Phone call for you, Alex." She replied, handing the phone. Alex took it, wondering who it could be. _Oh no! The babysitter… it could be her! What if something happened…?_

"Hello?"

"Alex! I don't have time to explain, but you have to get over to my house right now. Get your grandmother somewhere where she'll be safe, somewhere…. Other than that hospital." A males voice replied on the other end.

"Jack? What are you going on about?" Alex asked. She was on a cordless phone so she walked over and grabbed the gift for Miss Hampton. There were also roses from her boyfriend, and Alex figured she might as well bring those as well. Jack's impatient voice on the other end startled her.

"I can't explain now, you just have to get over here. Its about you, its about your grandmother, Becky, my brothers… everyone that I care about, listen I'd rather explain once instead of ten different times so please just get here, and I'll tell you and everyone else what's… going on. It has to do with Becky the most right now. I've already reported her missing, and I called the babysitter and she said that she's been trying to call you for hours now but nobody's answered." Alex had just entered Miss Hampton's room when she heard Jack's scared voice tell her that Becky was reported missing. She dropped the gift, the roses, and the phone. She passed out, and didn't wake up for another hour.

Angel and Sofi had just finished having dinner and decided they were going to treat themselves and go see a movie, when Sofi's cell rang. She smiled apologetically at Angel.

"I'm sure that this will only take a second, and no more. Hello?" she replied into the phone. She heard Bobby on the other end.

"Hey listen La Vida Loca, you and Angel need to get back here _right now._ Something's happened… Jack won't tell me until we're all together." Bobby was about to hang up when Sofi's angry voice stopped him.

"Damn it Bobby, what are you trying to pull? Leave us alone," Sofi replied. "Angel and I are having a very nice evening together, just because you are mad about that, does not mean you should make up stories! And stop calling me La Vida Loca," Sofi added. She hung up the phone.

"What did that ass want now?" Angel asked. Sofi smiled.

"Just crying wolf, you know the way Bobby is. Come, let's go now. I think it would be best if I turned my phone off," Sofi added. She in fact left it in the car and turned it off, so it wouldn't bother them at all. Although something in the way Bobby said there was something wrong bothered her, she pretended it didn't and they headed into the movie theatre. The phone in the car rang, but it was never answered. Giving up, Bobby stopped trying to call. He would have to go out and find them himself.

"Listen Jackie-o, Sofi's being a pain in the ass again and hung up on me. I'm going to have to go and drag their sorry asses here, and I'll be careful," Bobby added when Jack opened his mouth. Bobby grabbed his coat, but Jack followed.

"Drop me off as close as you can to the hospital. I told Alex that Becky was missing, and her grandmother came on saying that she passed out. I'm going to go and get her, maybe by the time we get there she'll already be awake." Jack made one last call to Jeremiah, who said he would be there as quickly as possible.

Jack ran into the hospital as Bobby sped off to find Angel and Sofi. He suddenly wished he had asked Alex's grandmother which floor they were on, because he had no idea where to start to look for Alex. He headed up to one of the other volunteers at the hospital.

"Excuse me, do you know where I could find Alexandra, she's a volunteer here…" Jack asked. He tried to remember her last name, which he knew, but his mind was blank. It didn't matter because the volunteer knew where she was anyways. Sixth floor in room 691. Jack ran to the elevators, and saw that one was out of order. The other one was already making its way up to the 9th floor and would take forever getting back down. He saw the only elevator that was actually available was the ones that the nurses used to carry patients from floor to floor. He knew that if he was caught he'd be in trouble, but at the moment he didn't care. He was a Mercer, so why should he? He quickly ran into the staff elevator and watched as it made its way to the sixth floor, hoping there wasn't a life altering emergency that would require the elevator he was using. It stopped and he jumped out, and quickly made his way to room 691. When he got there, he saw a teenager lying in one bed, and Alex in the other. Her grandmother was nowhere to be seen. Alex was still passed out, and Jack waited with her until Bobby came back.

Bobby, meanwhile, had looked around at all the dinner restaurants and finally found Angel's car. Inside was Sofi's cellphone… Bobby would ring her neck the second he got a chance to, but right now he needed to find them. He saw the movie theatre across the street and ran in. He only hoped he'd be able to find them. There were several movies going on at once, and he reasoned that if they were in one of the rooms watching a movie, it would have to be one that started after he had talked to Sofi. With that strategy, there was only two possible movies they could have seen. And if he knew Sofi at all, he knew she would drag Angel to some pointless chick flick. He ran into the movie and looked around. It was too dark to really see anything, but he knew that they had to be in there somewhere. Unless the movie they had wanted to see hadn't started yet, but Bobby soon spotted them sitting in the middle of the theatre. It was still the previews before the movie, and Bobby sat down next to them. Sofi glared at him.

"Damn it Bobby I told you to leave us!" Sofi shouted. Several people in the theatre shushed her.

"Yeah, and I told you that something happened. Jack wants us all together, all I know is it has something to do with the shooting, and that Jack's friend Alex's little sister Becky has been kidnapped. Jack is under the impression that we're also in danger. If someone hadn't hung up on me, I could have explained that." Bobby replied. Sofi got up immediately.

"Why didn't you say so? Bobby you can be so infuriating sometimes!" Sofi shouted. She walked quickly out of the theatre, and Bobby had to bite his tongue. There were plenty of times for him to get mad at Sofi, but he had a feeling that for once he'd let it slip, because this was not one of those times.

"Mmm… what… what happened?" she asked groggily. Her head hurt, everything was spinning. It was still too dark; she couldn't see anything but blurry images standing above her. Finally things cleared up, and she sat up. "Oh no… Becky! What happened to her?" Alex demanded. Bobby handed her a glass of water and some Advil.

"That's just what we were trying to find out. Maybe you can enlighten us now Jack?" Bobby asked. Jack nodded.

"Well… the phone rang. I answered it, and it was Becky. She doesn't know the number here, so I assumed that Alex had dialed it for her. But then I heard some guys voice in the background, and he took Becky off the phone and told me… that you were all in danger. All of you…" Jack ran a hand through his hair. "The police told me she has to be missing for 24 hours before they'll do anything. Forget the fact that this guy called me basically telling me that Becky was in danger… he said… I was supposed to die. But I didn't, and now he's trying to get to me through all of you…" Jack heard the phone rang and ran to grab it.

"Hello?" he replied. Everyone grew quiet. Daniela and Amelia were upstairs sleeping, but Camille, Jeremiah, Bobby, Angel, Sofi, and now Alex, were sitting in the living room. Alex didn't see her grandmother and wondered where she was. _Probably too stubborn to leave the hospital when there are so many patients who need help, and their so understaffed…_ Alex thought.

"Hello, Jack. How nice of you to get everyone together, but really it won't stop me from getting to them. After all, it was so easy to get you out of the house to shoot you. What makes you think I can't do that again?" the male's voice replied. Jack was suddenly aware that the voice was beginning to sound familiar. The identity of the man was slowly unfolding, but he still had no idea who it actually was.

"Who the hell are you?" Jack demanded. His tone of voice made it very obvious to everyone in the room who was calling, and they all grew silent once more. There was no answer; the man on the other end had hung up the phone. "Damn it!" Jack cursed, hanging up the phone. He sat down and put his head in his hands. _No… not Becky. He's playing with us._ Jack thought to himself. Nobody asked what the man had said, and they never knew. It didn't matter. If they didn't find Becky soon, she'd be dead. Or worse.

**A/N:** A little short, I know, and probably boring. It was more like a launch-a-plot chapter. Now everyone's together, we get to figure out who has Becky, and why. Also why the voice is so familiar to Jack. I hope you all understand now why I didn't update and don't hate me since that would suck. Lol anyways, read and review, I'll try and update this as quickly as possible. After all, it is March Break!


	7. Babysitter

**A/N:** Well I thought I would start early on the updating thing since I won't be allowed online until probably three in the afternoon until four-thirty or so. Thanks to all who reviewed although I haven't seen specifically who did since I got offline directly after posting the new chapter and haven't been online since... hope you enjoyed the last chapter and that you enjoy this one.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers isn't mine, because if it were, Jack wouldn't have died. He will always live on in **fan**fictions.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Six: Babysitter

Jack dropped the phone on the couch and sank into one of the chairs. He was no closer to finding Becky now than he was before. He felt even worse because although unintentionally, this was all his fault. Bobby paced around the room, waiting for Jack to say something. When he didn't, Bobby took charge.

"Alright, alright, so this asshole thinks he can mess with the Mercers? If he knew about the shooting, Jack, and was one of the ones behind it, then he should already know he can't mess with us. So any idea who this jackass is?" Bobby asked. He glanced over at Alex, who was still somewhat disbelieving that her little sister was kidnapped. Shouldn't the police be involved?

"No, I don't. He said he knows me... and that I know him. But a lot of good that does when I can't recognize his voice. Its familiar, but I can't match it with any face. Or even a name." Jack ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "The problem is, we're no closer to finding Becky, and its dangerous for us to look for her because he'll grab any of you. He said as much... just because you're all people I care about." Jack didn't notice the smile that had briefly lit Alex's face, but Jeremiah did. He said nothing, since it wasn't the time.

"Well... what about the police. Can't they—?" Alex asked. Jack shook his head.

"I already called them, and they said that until she's been missing for twenty-four hours..."

"They can't do a thing." Jeremiah finished for him. Jack nodded.

"Exactly. Which is bullshit. What if in that twenty-four hours, someone was actually killed but the police wouldn't look because the twenty four hours wasn't up? Then what would they do? I hate cops," Jack added. He immediately regretted mentioning the possibility of someone being killed before the twenty four hours was up, because Alex's eyes started to water a little. He tried to say something, but didn't know what he could say.

"Alex... Becky won't be killed. I'll personally make sure of that," Jack replied. He didn't know if that was comforting to Alex or not, but she wiped her eyes and smiled a weak smile.

"Thanks."

The room was darkly lit, with only a small lantern to light it up. Becky was lying on an old mattress that was on the floor, and she was gagged. At the moment she was also asleep, as her captive had used a substance doctors used to knock Becky right out for quite awhile. He could do anything to her if he wished—after all, she wouldn't feel the pain until she woke up. But he wasn't the type to do that, and besides, he didn't want to leave any trace of himself behind on the girl, in case the Mercers did manage to find her. It was unlikely, but a possibility that couldn't be crossed out so quickly. He refused to be a careless captor. Now that he was off the phone with Jack, he could get to more important matters... mainly, figuring out who he would go after next. There was Jack's brothers... they were very close. But the thought of kidnapping Bobby Mercer, or Jeremiah or Angel, didn't fly for him. The brothers were strong and would need to be weakened first before he could kidnap them. Alex... she was someone that Jack would miss terribly if she were gone. And like Becky, Jack would want to find Alex. They were... friends. Now that he thought about it, it seemed like a perfect idea: kidnap Alex, and kidnap Jack's 'girlfriend' Rachael. Jack probably wouldn't even notice that Rachael was missing, but he would notice Alex missing. And how would Rachael feel if Jack did manage to find them, when Jack knew Alex was missing and went to find her and Becky, but until finding them, never knew Rachael had been kidnapped also? _That way, _he thought, _if Jack does somehow manage to find them, I will have extra time to stop him from leaving with them, as Rachael will surely want to talk things out right there, at that exact moment. She seems the type who would, an idiot at heart._ The man laughed, and he glanced at his file on Alex. He had a file on all the brothers, and on all the people in their lives. It made it easier to know who to kidnap that would bother them the most.

Jack, Bobby, Angel and Jeremiah that night went around asking people if they had seen a little girl anywhere, and showed them a picture that Alex had reluctantly given them. Majority of people said no, and the ones who did see her, saw her with 'that nice girl who volunteers at the hospital her grandmother works at'. It wasn't a lot of help, if there were no witnesses who had seen her being taken away. Finally they moved over to where the babysitter lived. She had returned home, since there was no longer a child to babysit. Bobby rang the bell.

"Hello," he replied when a lady stuck her head out. "I'm Bobby Mercer. These are my brothers, Jack, Angel, and Jeremiah. We were wondering if we could talk to your daughter, the one that was babysitting Rebecca." the lady knew who he was talking about at once, Bobby could tell that, but she shook her head.

"I'm sorry Mr. Mercer, but there is no girl here who babysat a Rebecca." she replied, attempting to shut the door but Jack put his arm in the doorway and pushed it back open.

"I don't think you understand what my brother meant," Jack replied firmly. The woman glanced at them all, but still stuck with her story.

"Sir, I don't think you understand what I said. Which part of, "there is no girl here who babysat a Rebecca," don't you understand?" the woman asked rudely. Jack smirked and laughed, but not a laugh to show he was amused.

"Oh, so you want to get smart. Listen to me, and listen good. Rebecca, or as her sister and her friends call her, Becky, went missing on your daughter's watch. She was kidnapped. Not only could your daughter be in danger, but the rest of her family as well. Eventually the police will come and ask for your daughter, and what will you do then? Tell them she's dead? Not likely. So you have about ten seconds to let us in there, and get your daughter down to talk with us." Jack replied. The woman looked repulsed.

"You actually think that I will follow a timer?" she asked.

"Seven seconds," Jack replied, looking at his watch. The woman moved away from the doorway and ushered them in. She motioned for them to sit on the couch, and she called her daughter down.

"Gabriel! Could you please come downstairs? There are four men here who would like to talk to you about Rebecca," She glanced at them, not at all pleased that they had managed to convince her to let them in her home. They looked like the sort of trouble that she didn't want her daughter near, but there wasn't much she could do now that she had invited them in her house. A young girl, probably only just twelve, entered the living room. She didn't look happy, or angry, that she had been called down to talk about Rebecca. Instead, she looked scared. She sat down on a chair across from them and stared at the ground.

"Hey, Gabriel is it?" Jack asked. Bobby just gave him a look that clearly said he thought that Jack was crazy, but Jack ignored it. The girl loosened up a little.

"Yes." she replied softly. Jack sat back in the couch.

"Alright. Well I'm Jack, and these are my brothers Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel. We're friends of Becky, and her older sister Alex. You know Alex right?" Jack asked kindly. Gabriel nodded.

"She's the pretty girl who asks me to babysit Becky." Gabriel replied. She came across as a girl who could be very mature, but when scared, was just like an eight year old all over again. It was often that way with kids, they always seemed younger when they were scared.

"That's right," Bobby cut in. "We wanted to know everything you can tell us about what happened before Becky was kidnapped." Bobby asked. Gabriel looked shocked.

"So... she was kidnapped? I didn't imagine that man talking to me?" Gabriel asked. Jack's head shot straight up. _If she remembers him talking to her, maybe she'll remember what he looks like as well! Even a general image could help me remember who he is!_ Jack thought.

"He talked to you?" Jeremiah asked disbelieving. Gabriel nodded.

"Yes. He told me he wouldn't hurt me, that it was only Becky he wanted. I didn't know what to do, I was starting to get dizzy. He saw that I was starting to sway, and he made me sit down. For a kidnapper, he seemed... almost nice. At least to me, he only wanted Becky... he told me that he had slipped something into my pop when I had got up to go to the washroom. It was what was making me dizzy. He said he would take Becky and when I woke up, he'd be long gone. He said then I could call whoever I wanted. My mom, Alex, the police, anything." Gabriel looked at her feet. "I passed out right after that. I should have tried to stay awake, I should have—"

"You did what you could. When you've been drugged, you have no control over it." Angel replied. He knew from experience, having his own run-in with the wrong people and getting drugged so they could escape. He never pretended he was a saint. Gabriel looked at him gratefully. She had been so afraid that anyone who was friends with Becky, or her sister, or her grandmother, would hate her for not trying harder. She had imagined what Alex would say, but now she felt better. It really wasn't her fault.

"Gabriel, I realize you were already quite dizzy at the time from the drug he slipped in your drink, but can you tell me any information whatsoever about this man? Anything, even the blurriest image can help." Jack replied. Gabriel closed her eyes and tried to picture him again in her mind. It was hard because she had earlier tried very hard to shut the image out, and now she was being asked to remember it again.

"He was... your height," Gabriel replied to Jack. "Fairly tall. He... he had short hair, like Bobby, or Jeremiah's..." she added. She looked at the two of them. "A little more than Jeremiah's, a little less than Bobby's. He was white, but tanned. And... I think he had dark hair. By the time I took notice of that, it was getting blurrier. All I know is he had dark hair. Whether it was brown, black, any of that, I don't know. I couldn't see..." Gabriel was starting to get the thought that it was her fault again in her head, but Jack tried to erase it.

"You've really been a big help, Gabriel. And it isn't your fault. Everyone always blames themselves, but when there is a drug in your system, you can't do much. You can't control it as well. And everyone's systems react differently, so another person may not have even got that much information. I expect the police will want to talk to you also tomorrow, so tell them exactly what you told us, and you'll be fine." Jack replied. Gabriel nodded, but didn't get up. The brothers left the house on their own.

"So did that help you at all?" Bobby asked. Jack nodded.

"Sure. We now know that it isn't a black guy. That narrows it down a bit. At least I know its someone I know. I don't know who still," Jack added. "But I plan to find out. Soon." They got into Bobby's car and drove back home. For now, there wasn't anything else they could do. They were going to check out Alex's apartment, but when she begged them to just once let the police look first, they reluctantly agreed. They could look their afterwards. They'd find out on their own what evidence the police may or may not have found. At least now, they knew that this kidnapper was likely someone who already had a criminal record. After all, the guys that the Mercer's hung out with as kids weren't saints either. That could make matching the fingerprint easier.

"I still kind of wish that Green was still alive," Jack replied. "He may have been just another asshole cop, but at least he seemed to understand what we were going through. He was still a good cop, even if his partner wasn't." They all nodded in agreement. Jack leaned against the car door and stared out the window. There were Christmas lights all over the place, as Christmas was fast approaching. He didn't want Becky to spend Christmas with some strange man that she didn't even know. It didn't seem right. Christmas was to be spent with family, and friends. And if they didn't find her soon, Becky would be spending Christmas with a dangerous kidnapper. If she lived that long.

**A/N:** Well there's another chapter out for you all, thanks to those who are planning on reviewing. Reviews are what make me continue a story, or update sooner, so review like crazy and I'll update sooner. Sound good? I thought so. Now to be honest, the whole "Becky gets kidnapped" wasn't at all in the rough draft plan for this story, it was just something random I threw in. But I like it and its working well idea-wise for me, so that's good. Besides, it may make this story just that much longer, which is something I'm sure everyone reading this would like. Once its over, its over and I don't know if I'll do another story. I may, and I may not. I just don't know at this time. I suppose it will depend on if I get a new brainstorm for a Four Brothers story. Anyways, don't forget to review!


	8. Investigation Part 1

**A/N:** I first want to apologize for not updating sooner. It wasn't only this story, it was all of my stories as some of my readers may have noticed. I won't get into too much details here, I'll save the typing for the story, but basically I needed to focus on school for awhile and now I'm back on track, ready to start new again and I even created a new story to mark the occasion. It's a Zoey 101 story, so if you're a fan of the show, check it out and let me know what you think. Oh and I noticed that on Chapter 5 I said it was Chapter 4 and it made it seem like I was behind a chapter so I'm going to edit that later but yeah this is chapter eight not seven.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brother's isn't mine. End of story.

**NOTICE:** Although for the next little while I intend to update the story regularly, I feel that I must tell you that it is very possible for me to at any time not be updating again. I promise it will only ever be because of school work and I promise that even if I'm not updating I will continue to work on the stories and update the chapters when I get back online so you will still get the chapters, just a little later than usual.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Eight: Investigating Part 1

Although Bobby and Jack had wanted to continue searching for Rebecca and questioning everyone throughout the night, Camille, Jeremiah, Angel, Sofi, Alex and her grandmother finally talked some sense into them. They would be able to work better on a good nights sleep and in the morning they could start looking again, pass the time and finally report Becky as missing. Even though they had been contacted several times by the kidnapper and there was a witness, Jack knew that without more sufficient evidence— the words of a twelve year old didn't seem to count to the police there as Jack recalled from his childhood— they wouldn't consider Becky a missing child until the twenty four hours had passed.

Jeremiah, Camille, Angel and Sofi got into the van. Jack, Bobby, Alex and her grandmother in Bobby's car. They would be staying at Jeremiah's house. With the kids gone, already taken to their grandparents so they would be safe, there was extra space and it was better if they were all together. Jack refused to let any of them out of his sight because he was afraid that if he did, even for just one second, they might be taken away from him too. He stared out the window in the backseat of Bobby's car, keeping silent for most of the trip. Alex had fallen asleep as soon as she got into the car, and her head soon fell onto Jack's shoulder. He smiled down at her, but the smile soon vanished as he returned to his dark thoughts. Everyone he cared about was in danger, because of him. And because he couldn't recognize the person behind it all, they would remain in danger. Everything was his fault... it seemed as if in some way, it always was.

They finally reached Jeremiah's house and Jack woke Alex up. She moaned and closed her eyes again.

"Come on Alex, you can sleep inside," Jack told her. She didn't listen and kept her eyes shut. Sighing Jack got out of the car, went over to her side, opened the door and picked her up. She shrieked.

"Jack!"

"Well are you going to go on your own or close your eyes again?" he asked.

"I'll go on my own..." she said quietly. Jack put her down and she started to walk inside with her arms crossed, her heart beating fast. She turned back and saw Jack leaning against the car, silent, brooding. She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm.

"Come on," she said, "lets go inside. Bet I can beat you at a game of Euchre," she added. Jack shook his head.

"I think I'll just go to bed... maybe tomorrow night," Jack turned and ran up the steps into the house. Alex sighed. _Jack shouldn't blame himself!_ She thought angrily. Then, she felt guilty. _Why is it that my sister gets kidnapped and all I can think about is Jack? I should be more worried about Becky than Jack. Jack's grown up, he can take care of himself. Becky... she's so young, alone... we have to find her. Jack doesn't want me to do anything, but this is one time where I can't sit by and do as Jack says. I won't!_ She walked inside, determined to get some rest. In the morning, she would be helping Jack, Bobby, Angel and Jeremiah search for Becky, no matter what the consequences, and even if they argued over it.

—

The next morning, Camille and Alex's grandmother cooked breakfast for everyone. Breakfast went by quietly, with only a few quiet words exchanged. It seemed that everyone had something on their mind and didn't quite feel like talking. Jack was poking at his breakfast, Bobby was reading the same sports page of the paper for most of breakfast, his eyes never moving as though he were reading. Jeremiah only talked to say thanks, and wasn't even eating breakfast, but instead just drinking juice. Sofi attempted talking to Angel, but he wasn't in the mood either. The guys were too busy thinking about the past events, but the girls just wanted to get them cheered up a bit.

"I'm going with you today," Alex said finally, breaking the silence. Nobody acted as though they had even heard a word that she had said, so she cleared her throat and said again, louder. "I said, I'm going with you today." This time Jeremiah heard her, and shook his head.

"No, you aren't. Sorry but I just can't let you do that. Its nothing personal, really, but its too dangerous. We shouldn't even be looking but if the bastard cops would look before twenty four hours were up, maybe we wouldn't have to. No way, Alex, I'm sorry but that's just not going to happen." Jeremiah got up from the table and left the room. Alex sighed.

"Anyone else have any objections?" she asked tiredly. Jack looked up at her.

"Yeah, I do. There's no reason for you to come, and its too dangerous so why risk it? Leave it to us," Jack replied. Alex stared down at her plate sadly.

"Jack... she's my sister. That's reason enough." Alex got up and grabbed her coat, put her shoes on and left. Bobby got up and smacked Jack in the head.

"Idiot. Now look what you've done, she left to look for Becky on her own. We better hurry up and catch up to her, come on." Bobby replied, rushing to get his coat. Jack grabbed his own but stood in front of the door, blocking the way from Bobby.

"Maybe I should go by myself. I'm the one she's upset at, not you. You go with Jeremiah and Angel, I'll meet you at Alex's apartment building in an hour." Jack ran out after Alex and Bobby shook his head. Angel came up behind him.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," Bobby said, staring out the window at Jack who had caught up with Alex. His eyes were twinkling, thoughts forming in his head, but he repeated "Nothing." again. Angel shrugged.

"Whatever," he said. Sofi came up to him and he went back to finish his breakfast.

—

Jack ran and caught up to Alex, who had slipped on a patch of ice under freshly fallen snow, and was sitting on the ground crying. He knelt down and put his arm around her.

"Alex... I'm sorry," he said. "I was insensitive, I mean here I am blaming myself for what happened to Becky and I'm forgetting that... that you're worried about her just as much as I am. More, even. We have an hour before we're supposed to meet Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel, so lets go make the best of it." Jack reached out to Alex and helped her stand up, but they both slipped again and Alex fell on top of Jack.

"Oh... sorry," she said quietly, getting up. She looked away quickly so that Jack wouldn't notice her blushing.

"It's okay, I'm not the greatest on ice without skates. Why don't we go report Becky missing? Even though the twenty four hours isn't up, we can give the police the heads up and tell them what we know. Maybe they'll decide we have enough evidence for them to search for her now. After that, I think it might be a good time to dig up my past and find out who this bastard is." Jack replied, and they walked off, headed to the police station which wasn't far from Jeremiah's house. Jack honestly didn't think that they had enough evidence to convince the police to look for Becky right away, but he wasn't going to tell Alex that. He wanted to keep her cheered up.

"Jack," Alex's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Did you say "we" earlier, when you mentioned meeting your brothers?" Alex asked. Jack smiled.

"Yeah. Guess I had a change of heart. But don't think that means you can come every time," Jack added. "You still have to be extra careful... I have a feeling that..." Jack trailed off, not sure if he should tell her. He didn't want to worry her for no reason.

"That what?" Alex asked. Jack put his hands in the pocket, sighed and then stopped walking. He stared at Alex, full on eye contact.

"That you might be next." he said finally.

—

Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel drove to Alex's apartment. Even though Alex had said that she wanted them to wait until the police looked at it, Bobby stubbornly decided against that and wanted to inspect the house himself. It was possible that there was evidence that would persuade the police to look sooner than the twenty four hours, and if any such evidence existed, Bobby intended to find it. Angel, just like Bobby, wanted to inspect the apartment. Jeremiah however didn't wish to because he wanted to respect Alex's wishes.

"I won't take part in it. Alex asked us not to and what do you do? Snoop. Let the police do their job man," Jeremiah replied. Bobby, having heard enough of Jeremiah's complaints, turned and glared at him.

"You mean the same way they did their job when Mom was murdered? When Jack was shot and they couldn't catch who did it? What about that time when we were kids, and we saw your girlfriend get shot. Did they do their job then, Jerry?" Bobby asked. Jeremiah looked away, blinking any possible tears that may have surfaced.

"Don't mention that again." Jeremiah warned.

"Or what, Jerry? You'll cry? It wasn't your fault; not mine either. It happened, but the police never caught who did it. You're girlfriend was murdered when she was only fifteen. Trust the police to do their job if you want, but excuse me if I don't. Most of those damn cops are dirty and the ones who are still can't do their job. Sad thing is the dirty cops are often the best cops unless it involves busting their own asses, at least that's how it always seems around here. Sit on the couch and whine all you want, but I'm not leaving here until I have evidence to give to the police so they start that search early." Bobby replied. He saw that most of the apartment seemed fairly neat as it always had. Looking closer near Becky's room, he saw signs of struggle. Becky must have struggled, because the babysitter had said she was drugged. She wouldn't have had much time to do any struggling, if the affects happened as quickly as she said they did. On the floor was a torn piece of Becky's shirt, and blood.

"Angel, get your ass over here," Bobby called. Angel entered the room.

"What?"

"See this blood? Who's do you think it is— the kidnapper, or Becky's?" Bobby asked. Angel shrugged.

"I don't know, you can't tell whose blood it is by looking at it."

"True. But a Mercer's instincts are never wrong— and I think it's the kidnapper's blood. I suggest we tell the police to check this room out thoroughly when they do the investigation. I think this is where Becky was when she was kidnapped. But what way did the kidnapper leave... if the babysitter had already been drugged and fell unconscious, he could have left out the front door. Which means—"

"Someone might have seen him," Angel guessed. Bobby stood up.

"Let's go question the neighbours. Jeremiah! Get off your lazy ass and come help us interrogate some possible witnesses," Bobby shouted. He stared back at Becky's room. Other than the blood, and the scrap from Becky's shirt, there didn't seem to be much evidence of any kind in the room.

"We should have been cops," Angel muttered under his breath. "We always seem to be doing their work anyways,"

"Yeah but if we were cops we'd have to follow the law, and I prefer investigating whatever the hell I want without a permit," Bobby replied.

—

Becky was left in the room, alone. She sat up as best as she could, being tied up, and started to cry. There was nothing she could do to get out of the situation, not really. She was too little, too young... it would be too dangerous for her to try anything. She was glad that she had decided to call Jack instead of her sister at the hospital. If she had called her sister, she would have waited until morning or later to tell Jack. Somehow, Becky knew that Jack and his brothers, who Becky really liked, were doing whatever they could to find her. Even if they weren't, she kept telling herself that they were. It was what kept her calm, even if a few tears were shed because she was so scared.

The kidnapper, whoever he was, had left her alone in the room. There were no windows, and now no lights either. It was completely dark except the light that Becky could see coming from the crack under the door. When she saw a shadow move across the light and stop in front of the door, she attempted to gasp, but couldn't. She was gagged tightly and couldn't cough if she wanted to. The door knob turned, she could hear it rattling, and then bright light shined into the room, almost blinding her because of the quick change of lighting. It was the kidnapper, back to talk to her.

"Hello, Rebecca," he said softly. "I brought you something." the man placed down a teddy bear at Becky's feet and knelt down beside her. "I'll untie you," he said finally. "But you must promise not to try anything, because if you do, you'll be _chained_ to a chair without any moving privileges at all. I suggest you don't waste your time and freedom by attempting to escape. The door is always locked, and as you've probably noticed, there are no windows. No vents for you to crawl through. No secret passageway. Only... a locked door, and four walls. Breakfast will be served in an hour." he got up quickly and closed the door. Becky ran to it, tried to open it, but he had already locked it. She was stuck inside the room, just as he had said. She looked at the teddy bear. She badly wanted to never touch it or look at it, because the kidnapper, the one responsible for her being trapped here, had given it to her. But right now, she needed a friend, needed something to hold. So as the tears streamed down her face, she sat down, held the teddy bear close to her, and cried.

**A/N:** Well a tad short, but I figured that you'd be happy with just a chapter done and over with. I promise to update more often now and I am going to be mostly working on fanfictions today until I run out of inspiration and get the usual minor case of writers block that I usually get after I've wrote so much. Don't forget to review, let me know what you think.


	9. Investigation Part 2

**A/N:** Well, another little while without updating— sorry, I got into a total vibe with my other stories and just never got around to this one. I'm contemplating using my "for school work" floppy to bring this stuff to school as well to work on, but I don't know. Then writing would _really_ take up my life— then again, in the future, it will be, since writings the only thing I've ever thought of for the future, other than possibly something regarding music. Perhaps both. Anyways, in this chapter I had to use what time Becky was kidnapped— I don't think I ever said but I'm going to go with probably 7:30.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brother's isn't mine. End of story.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Nine: Investigating Part 2

For most of the walk to the police station, Jack and Alex remained silent. It wasn't really awkward— there just wasn't anything that needed to be said. After Jack had told her that he thought she might be next, she was scared. Yeah, she admitted it— no use denying it. Did that mean she'd tell Jack that? Never! No matter how much she lov— wait a second. Did she really almost say... _loved? _She didn't love him! They were good friends, and she wasn't used to that with guys because they always had something else on their minds.

"Do you really think I'm... next?" Alex asked quietly. Jack stopped walking and faced her, seeing that she was staring down at the ground sadly. He stepped ahead of her, and hugged her. She seemed shocked and didn't do anything. Finally, acting on instinct because otherwise she had no idea what to do, she put her arms around his back and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Not if I can stop it," Jack whispered. They stayed there like that, never moving. Neither of them wanted to, but they both let go and fell silent. Ah... there was the awkward silence Alex had grown accustomed to. _Did I just hug her? What am I doing? I have a girlfr— well, not really. But Alex is my friend... friend... just keep saying it, over and over again, and maybe I'll remember that. Okay, Alex is my friend... just... a friend. _**If she's just a friend, **the evil voice in Jack's head interrupted, **why do you just want to hold her, tell her everything's alright?**_ That's something friends do. _Jack retorted in his head. _They comfort each other, so that's not so bad. _**Well, maybe that isn't so bad, but what certainly is bad is the way you wish that you could kiss her.**_ Just shut up! _Jack screamed in his head.

"Just shut up!" Jack shouted. _Oops... did I just say that... out loud?_ Jack wondered. Yeah, judging by the stunned look on Alex's face he had definitely just said that out loud. "I mean... sorry, Alex, I didn't mean to say that out loud. I kind of..." Jack trailed off. Kind of what? Told himself to shut up? That didn't make sense— he didn't know what was worse, Alex thinking that Jack wanted her to just shut up, or that he told himself to shut up instead. Jack finally dragged himself out of his thoughts and looked around. Wait a second... where was Alex? Jack didn't see her anywhere... she couldn't have gone that far, there was nowhere really to go. Suddenly Jack was shocked by the cold tingling sensation he felt on his face as a snowball made contact with it. Wiping it off his face, he looked around and saw Alex laughing.

"Gotcha!" she shouted. She saw the look in Jack's eyes and suddenly began backing away. "Jack..." she replied slowly. "What are you doing?" Jack didn't answer. He continued advancing towards her and reached down, creating his own snowball. Alex eyed it cautiously and continued backing away. "It... was just a joke," Alex offered weakly. Oh please, as if that would help! When it came down to it, Alex knew exactly what was going to happen. Jack was going to hit her in the face with a snowball just as she had done. Maybe even toss it down her shirt if he got the chance. She turned around, no longer backing away slowly but now breaking out into a fast run. She knew that Jack was faster, but she didn't pay attention to that. She kept running, running, just kept running and hoping that he wouldn't catch her. No such luck. He dove at her and knocked her over. He turned her over so that her face was out of the snow and her eyes were staring up at him. He held the snowball up as if he was going to slam it into her face, but he dropped it. For some reason, hitting Alex in the face with a snowball wasn't exactly what he had on his mind. He inched his face closer, staring at her lips. He gulped and looked at her eyes, trying to see if he could read whether he should be doing this or not. But there was nothing to read in Alex's eyes— she had them shut softly, and he decided to just go for it and he dipped his head in kissing her softly. Alex wrapped one hand around his neck and returned his kiss fully. That made Jack feel better— if she had pushed him away, he didn't know what he would have done. Gotten angry at her? _No,_ Jack realized. _I would have been angry at myself._ Then Jack realized what he was doing— he was kissing Alex! He had to break away, no matter how much he was enjoying it. But... just... just one more second, Jack decided. Then he heard Alex moan and broke away. He couldn't do this— they were friends! He could ruin their friendship. But... he had known that, hadn't he? When he first inched closer to her. Alex still had her eyes shut and sighed. Jack gazed at her and wondered what she was thinking— hmm... a sigh? Surely that was a good thing, for her to do. Jack brushed a strand of hair out of Alex's face and gently kissed her on the forehead. Then he stood up and ran a hand through his hair, sighing. Just what exactly was he getting himself into? He couldn't get closer to Alex— then she would be next, for sure!

"Jack..." Alex replied softly. She looked up at him. Jack could see she wasn't angry with him, not disappointed or sad... but she _was _confused. Jack just smiled at her and put on arm around her.

"Forget it, Alex. Just... for now. Things are confusing enough as it is right now, and... let's just focus on Becky for now." Jack replied finally. Alex nodded.

"Okay..." she said softly. She leaned her head against his shoulder again and then ran ahead. "Bet I can beat you there!" she called back, laughing. Jack smirked.

"Wanna bet?" he muttered.

—

Bobby slammed his fist against the wall, causing the man inside the apartment to jump into the air.

"Damn it, I want answers— _now._ Anything you can tell us we might be able to use to take to the police so they'll look for her that much sooner." Bobby shouted. The man looked at him and attempted to move away. "Hey now, just where the _fuck _do you think you're going?" Bobby asked, slamming him up against the wall. The man attempted to get away but failed miserably.

"Why don't you just wait until the twenty four hours is up and then let the police do their job?" the man asked bitterly. Bobby looked over at Angel and smirked.

"Oh, you want me to let the police do their job?" he replied. The man nodded, seeming more relaxed— but he had been falsely coaxed into it. "Well let me tell you something, we don't have time to waste here. Any minute that little girl could be killed— she's been kidnapped and the guy who did it doesn't want a ransom— he wants revenge. You understand what that means?" Bobby asked, as if he was talking to a four year old. The man gulped and muttered something. "That's right buddy boy, and that means that he won't stop at anything to kill her— he doesn't want anything except one person, but instead of taking that person they took someone close to him to torture him. So what the hell happened?" Bobby asked. He let go of the man so he could breathe properly again. The man looked suspiciously at them all.

"Who are you, that I should be telling you?" he asked. Angel looked ready to smack him but Jeremiah held him back. Unfortunately for Jerry, Bobby had something along the same lines as Angel did in his head— only he pulled out a gun and pointed it.

"You see this? This is a gun pointed at your fucking head. Who has the gun?" Bobby asked. The man muttered 'you do'. Bobby nodded and patted him on the head a few times with it. "Good job. So who are you going to tell exactly what you saw?" Bobby asked.

"I..." the man started. Bobby jabbed the gun right against his head so it was painful. "I didn't see anything. I wasn't home last night. I came back and the lights were out at the apartment there. I thought it was weird but then again they both work at the hospital, so maybe they had to work late and dropped the little girl off somewhere."

"Shit..." Bobby muttered. "Well when did you leave and when did you get back here?" he asked. The man thought for a moment.

"I guess we got back here at about midnight..." he replied. Bobby slammed his fist in the wall.

"When did you leave?" he asked.

"7:30 I guess. We were supposed to leave at seven, but—"

"Do I look like I care? 7:30 is when that little girl went missing so how the fuck can you not notice that if you live right across the hall?" Bobby asked. The man looked down guiltily. "Well? Listen buddy I have the fucking gun and unless you want the bullet that's in this gun to go into your fucking brain I suggest you start telling me what the fuck you know." Bobby shouted.

"Okay! I was walking out and I saw this man lead Becky out of the apartment. I thought it was her dad or something—"

"Her dad's dead, you've lived next to them that long and you didn't know that?" Bobby asked.

"I never talked to any of them before, they're always at the damn hospital alright? Do you want to hear what I know or not?" the man demanded. Bobby moved the gun away from his head. "Okay, so I thought it was her dad, some male figure in her life anyways. But it didn't seem right because she looked scared, but I've seen kids look scared all the time. Some of them are afraid of strangers, others are afraid of doctors— she could have been seeing a private doctor or going to the hospital to see her grandmother or her sister— so I didn't think much of it. I just left, took the elevator— the man took the stairs. I don't know how he did it, went down ten flights of stairs but he wanted to. 'Its good for the heart!' he had said." the man struggled to be free of Bobby's grasp and finally Bobby let him go.

"Just one more thing— did you see what he looked like?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, he didn't bother hiding it. He had light brown hair, kinda streaked with blonde a bit. About your height," he motioned at Angel. "Probably your build," this time he pointed at Jeremiah. "He had on this black leather coat— in fact I believe he was dressed all in black except his shirt under the coat. That was white. That's all I know." the man added firmly. Bobby threw him against the wall.

"Well your more help than the babysitter. Next time, when it's the police asking you these questions, I suggest you answer them without force needing to be used." Bobby turned to leave but the man called out to him.

"Wait! Who the hell are you?" he demanded. Angel stepped forward.

"The Mercers— so don't fuck with us."

**A/N:** Well, here's the chapter. A bit short, under three thousand words which is less than I'd like but hey you know how it is. Well, maybe you don't… anyways, how'd you like the little Jack and Alex scene? I thought I'd throw that in--- didn't plan to, though. I was just writing and got caught up in the story--- have any of you had that happen? When you have a planned thing to happen and all of a sudden you get caught in the moment and its like… this may be a wrong choice of words, but like your possessed and you have no idea what your doing but its just coming from you, like its your hands that have the bright idea for the story and not your own mind. Yeah, that sounds weird but it was kind of like that. The next chapter will be Investigating: Part 3 since its not quite done. Yeah, I suppose I could have thrown them all into one chapter, BUT… that's not usually what I do.


	10. Investigation Part 3

**A/N:** Sorry for not updating sooner, I was caught up in my other story, "Addicted" (Final Fantasy, for those wondering) and then when I wanted to update, of course, the documents for whatever reason weren't uploading. It sucked. But that gave me time to work on the stories while listening to music (mostly by Rooney, hehe I've recently developed an interest in that band and I LOVE them, 'specially the song "Daisy Duke" lol but I know NO ONE who has even heard of Rooney and it's a sad, sad thing...) Anyways, R&R kay? Thanks!

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers isn't mine, never was, never will be.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Ten: Investigating Part 3

"Beat you!" Jack exclaimed, panting, trying to catch his breath. Alex ran up to him and grinned.

"Sure you did, but at least I'm not tired. You are," she pointed out. Jack laughed, and nodded.

"I guess that's true," he admitted. "But let's go inside, alright?" he replied. Alex nodded, her previously cheerful attitude disappearing as soon as she was reminded of why they were at the police station. She felt her eyes beginning to water, and she blinked away any would-be tears, and followed Jack inside the police station.

It appeared to be quite a busy day at the police station, but then if Jack remembered correctly from his childhood, it always had been busy in there. Crime was always all over the place, and other towns crimes got brought there because the crimes moved to his home town. The cops were running all around, many of them were on the phone, others were putting on gloves because of the cold water and heading outside. Jack and Alex walked in, and a female officer walked up to them.

"Yes?" she asked tiredly. Jack cleared his throat and he asked if they could sit down. The female officer nodded and motioned for them to sit at the seats at her desk. "Well?" she asked. "What seems to be the problem?" Alex said nothing, as Jack had known she wouldn't, so he spoke up instead.

"We're here to report a missing seven year old girl named Rebecca, the twenty four hours aren't up yet but we thought we'd at least report her missing now. She went missing at 7:30 last night," Jack added. The cop nodded and wrote the information down on a notepad.

"Last name?" she asked.

"William's," Alex supplied finally. The cop looked at the two of them.

"And is she your daughter?" she asked. Alex flushed and looked down, but Jack just grinned at her and shook his head.

"No, she's her little sister. I received a phone call from the kidnapper, last night, and he doesn't want ransom money." Jack added, more seriously now. The cop looked up from her notepad.

"_Doesn't _want ransom? Well, what kind of a kidnapping are we talking about here?" she asked. Jack sighed.

"Listen I don't fucking know, a kidnapping, does it matter what kind? The kidnapper said he knew me and that he was taking her to get to me, meaning more people are in danger." Jack added. "If we find anything that will make you search for her sooner, we'll let you know." Jack replied, standing up. Alex followed suit but they both stopped when the cop spoke to them.

"You aren't investigating this on your own, are you?" she asked.

"What the hell do you think we're going to do exactly? We can't exactly wait for twenty four hours to be up, the bastard doesn't want a ransom and he just wants to get to me, so do you really fucking think he'll hesitate before killing her? Besides if you won't investigate before the twenty four hours is up, we'll just have to come up with some hard evidence to get this investigation started. 7:30, don't fucking forget." Jack replied. He grabbed Alex's arm and dragged her out. That hadn't exactly gone as planned, but what could he do about it? He looked at the watch on Alex's wrist and swore under his breath.

"We have to go meet Bobby and the others, come on!" Jack replied. He started running and Alex struggled to keep up with him. When they finally stopped they had arrived where they were supposed to meet, and Jack saw Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel leaning against Bobby's car.

"About fucking time Crackerjack, we started thinking you and Alex might have went off on your own and—"

"BOBBY! Can we please not do this now?" Jack asked. Bobby grinned, noticing a slight blush on Alex's face, and shrugged.

"Whatever you say Jackie. So, where WERE you guys all this time?" Bobby asked. Jack folded his arms and looked back at him.

"I was thinking of asking you guys the same thing. Alex and I went to the police station to report Becky missing— at least they could know about it ahead of time, they seemed pretty busy there today. And what were my dear brothers doing?" he asked, noticing them all staring at him strangely. It was almost beginning to bother him.

"We went to Alex's apartment. I know you said you didn't want us to," Angel filled in, seeing Alex open her mouth, "But Bobby thought it was better than waiting 24 hours for the cops to start investigating, since if we found crucial evidence to for sure say that Becky was kidnapped they would search sooner, and we agreed." Jeremiah nodded, and Bobby held out the torn piece of a shirt with blood on it and showed it to Alex and Jack.

"This might be considered evidence to make them look sooner. They can test this blood and see its not Becky's," Bobby replied.

"How can you be sure its not hers, and just on this shirt?" Alex asked. Bobby shrugged.

"To be honest, I can't unless its tested, but hey, Mercer's instinct. Jack, I told these guys we should've been cops, but they won't listen. How about you, Jackie-o?" Bobby asked. Jack shrugged.

"I don't really care much about the crimes unless it involves people I care about," he replied. Alex handed the torn piece of a shirt back to Bobby.

"So, what else did you find out while you were there?" she asked. Bobby grinned.

"I thought you didn't want us investigating there until the police had a chance to?" Bobby asked. Alex nodded, and then leaned up against the car next to them.

"I didn't, but since you already went ahead and did it anyways, you might as well tell us what you learned. Well?" she asked. Angel looked past Alex, and saw that there was someone standing there. He tried to see who it was, but as soon as he had noticed the strange person standing there, lurking, almost as if watching them, it disappeared. Jeremiah noticed where his gaze was directed and looked around, but of course at that point the strange figure was gone and all that could be seen was the regular people hurrying from place to place to get out of the cold weather.

"What are you two lookin' at?" Bobby asked, finally noticing the strange looks on both Jeremiah and Angel's face. He looked around but saw nothing.

"I thought I saw someone... just over there. Watching us. Fucking watching us, man." Angel replied. He shivered. "That shit's fucking freaky, let's just get this thing over and done with. I say we start over there, looking for whoever was watching us." Angel replied.

"Why?" Alex asked, confused. "I mean so what, someone watched you for a few seconds, they could have been looking at anything for any amount of time." She added. They all got into Bobby's car, Jack, Alex and Jeremiah crammed in the backseat. Bobby pulled the car out of its parking spot and looked in the rearview mirror at Alex.

"Yeah, you're right, they could have been looking at anything. It could have even just have been a strange coincidence. But see in this town when it comes to us Mercer's, nothing's a fucking coincidence. Not a God damned thing..." Bobby replied. He put his foot on the accelerator and scanned the area as he drove in the direction that Angel had seen the guy run off in. Yet, there was nobody there.

"Damn it!" Bobby cursed, slamming his hands into the steering wheel. Jack turned to Alex and saw that she was staring out the window, not even paying attention to what was going on around them. He sighed. _Alex... _he thought. _I... we can't be together, can we? _He thought sadly. _If we do, you'll be even more of a target. But then, this bastard already knows I'm close to you. Damn him... he seems to have known how I felt, before I actually knew myself. How the hell do I know him? Was he there that day at the shooting? Please God don't let them hurt Becky. _Jack thought. Alex leaned her head on his shoulder, and he sighed. He had never meant to hurt anyone, but it seemed he always had, all throughout his life.

"Okay, we're here," Bobby replied. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw Alex with her eyes shut, lying against Jack. "You guys have already been in there once today, how 'bout just Jerry, Angel and I head in and deal with the cops here. We were the ones who found this piece of evidence anyway." Bobby got out of the car and Jerry and Angel followed not far behind him. Jack sighed and stared out the window. It was already beginning to snow, and he sadly thought of the fact that Christmas was fast approaching. They had to find Becky soon, before Christmas.

"Jack?" Alex asked. Jack looked down at her, seeing her sad expression. He wrapped an arm around her.

"Yeah?" he asked. She didn't say anything for awhile, and then finally shut her eyes.

"Do you think he's hurt Becky?" she asked him finally. Jack looked at the police station and watched as a large group of patrol cars left the parking lot, sirens blaring, and driving in the same direction faster then the speed limit.

"No." Jack replied finally. He was lying to her, and he knew that. He knew that the man who had Becky didn't care what he did to her, or if she even survived the ordeal. Jail meant nothing to him— and he didn't want anything but to hurt Jack, so why would he think twice on hurting Becky? Jack looked down at Alex and saw that despite what he had said to her, she looked far from relieved. Perhaps she had known he was lying, but could she blame him? _I have to figure out whose behind this, before it drives everyone insane, and before... before Becky's killed._ Jack thought. He sighed, and allowed his thoughts to wander.

—

A woman was sitting all by herself in a dark room, surrounded by four walls and a single door. No windows, no furniture— just the chair she was bound to. A gag in her mouth so she couldn't shout for help, not that it would matter if she did. She waited, watching the small crack below the door to see if a shadow ever passed over it. She could have sworn already that a shadow had passed by several times, but whoever it was never came in. She tried screaming even with the gag, but nobody came. Perhaps she was far from any civilization, or perhaps she was well-hidden in a crowded place where no one heard her screaming.

The woman had arrived at home, late from work. She had brought with her groceries, and was checking her messages. None, not a single message for her. It bothered her that her own boyfriend hadn't called her at all since she had given him her number, and today was no different. She had been frustrated with him, and gone outside to get the mail. As she was flipping through the letters she had received, a hand had gone over her mouth, and the next thing she knew, she was tied up in this room. She didn't remember anything on the way there, she didn't remember anything once she arrived. She had no idea who had taken her from her home; all she knew was that she was missing, and nobody even knew...

A shadow passed over the crack of light, and then returned, stopping in front of the door. The sound of locks being opened could be heard, and the woman stifled a scream as a man approached her. He removed her gag, and she screamed bloody murder until he covered her mouth.

"Shut the fuck up," he told her harshly. She nodded, and closed her mouth. The man shut the door and turned on a single, dim light. She couldn't see his face, but she saw the room she was in more clearly now. She had been right when she had originally thought it was empty.

"Good girl," he replied, lifting her chin. She jerked her face away from him, and he slapped her. "So, figured out what's going on yet?" he asked her. The woman remained silent, and he smirked and laughed. She stared up at him, wishing she could see his face. If she ever escaped, she'd need to be able to tell who her captive was, or at least what he looked like. But if he was hiding her face from her, perhaps it meant he intended on letting her go... eventually.

"Figured... what out?" she replied finally. The man's smirk grew even more.

"Why, my dear Rachael, that you've been kidnapped."

**A/N:** Rachael, does that ring a bell to anyone reading this? That's right, Jack's "girlfriend"... what will happen next? Hmm, review and maybe I'll update and you'll find out.


	11. Phone Calls Are A Bitch

**A/N:** I could go on about giving excuses as to why I didn't update this, but instead I'll spare you — I doubt anyone really cares about excuses anyway as long as there's an update, right? Anyway, thanks so much to those who reviewed, thanks especially to those who kept asking me to update because that is one of the main reasons I'm updating right now. R&R.

**Disclaimer:** Four Brothers doesn't belong to me. Dunno exactly who it does belong to, but just most definitely not me.

**Grand Theft Autumn**

_EilayAdnayVolieay_

Chapter Eleven: Phone Calls Are A Bitch

After Bobby, Jeremiah and Angel had gone inside of the police station to present the evidence they had found in hopes of starting up the investigation early, Jack had leaned back in his seat and began staring out the window. Throughout all of this, he knew that it was ultimately his fault. The people he cared about, people that didn't deserve anything bad to happen to... they were being hurt because of him.

He looked down at Alex's face and saw that she had fallen asleep. He sighed and tried to look away. Earlier, he had done something he really shouldn't have. He had kissed her. He had a girlfriend, and... he had kissed her.

Well, he didn't really consider Rachel his girlfriend entirely. He had went out with her. They both just kind of assumed they were dating. She called him all the time, and he never called her... he knew that pissed her off. But how could he call her, pretending to be interested in her, when he so very obviously was becoming interested in Alex? And that alone was a problem in itself.

Alex was his friend. Her sister had been kidnapped because he got too close — because this bastard, whoever it was from Jack's past, had taken her to get back at him. And he knew... he knew that he cared for her, he had to, to be doing all of this for her. But kissing her... he knew he'd enjoyed every second of it, so had she. But was getting closer to her really a good idea? Was even being around her a good idea?

He had told her before that she couldn't come with him, that she had to stay at his house while they went out investigating. At the time, he had thought that would be best. But he was suddenly realizing it wouldn't matter where she was, and that he felt as if she'd only be safe if she was with him. Not with Bobby, Angel or Jeremiah — but him, specifically. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to be there for her when she needed someone to listen or just be with her. And that realization alone... scared the hell out of him.

—

"So you mean to tell me," The cop said, looking from Bobby, to Angel, to Jeremiah. "That the three of you walked into a potential crime scene, without the permission of any police officer, and expect us to use this evidence?" He looked like he was ready to laugh at them, clearly not seeing the fact that he was messing with the Mercer Brothers — something no one ever did, or should do.

Bobby reached forward and grabbed the cop by his collar, and Jeremiah immediately tried to get Bobby to let go.

"Hey, hey Bobby come on man, let's not get into any trouble —" Jeremiah started, but Bobby interrupted him.

"Shut the fuck up Jerry! Okay, you know what? I'm having a really, really fucked up day. It's been pretty fucking miserable throughout, and I am not going to be fucking laughed at by a fucking cop. Obviously, you couldn't use this as evidence in a court trial — but you can test it, and use it to start the investigation early. We don't have 24 hours to be sitting around and waiting for you damn cops to get off your lazy asses. We need to find this girl, _now. _Not a few hours from now, but right fucking now. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Bobby added. The cop started to smirk, and Bobby felt like smacking it off his face. "And just what is so god damn amusing?" He asked him.

"The fact that another cop just walked in on what could very well be considered an assault on a police officer. Sit down, Mr. Mercer." Bobby turned around and saw the cop standing in the doorway, and let go of the one he was holding.

"Hey, no harm done! We were just talking, right buddy?" Bobby added. He sat down in the chair he had previously occupied and put his feet up on the cops desk. "We can talk about this in a civil manner no problem." Angel and Jeremiah exchanged knowing looks — Bobby, civil? Only when it came to their mom. And she wasn't around anymore to be civil to.

"Okay, so tell us exactly what happened." The second cop who had walked in asked.

"This little girl named Becky went missing. We didn't know if maybe she had just wandered off on her own, if she had been taken by someone she knew back home — until we got a phone call. This guy calls us, and tells us that he has her. The reason he has her is because of our brother, Jack." Jeremiah replied. He stopped so that the police could write all of this down.

"And where is this Jack?" the first cop asked, not looking up from his paper.

"Outside in the car, with the little girls older sister." Angel filled in. "Her names Alex. They came in earlier to report her missing, so it should already be on some kind of file, shouldn't it?" He asked. The cops looked at each other and nodded.

"Right, right. So, you got a call. Is that it?" The cops asked, not sounding very convinced. Bobby saw this and slammed his fist on the desk.

"No that's not fucking it!" He shouted, and Jeremiah pulled him back. "This shirt has blood on it — none of the adults that live there recognized this shirt as theirs, and they don't remember it being around with blood on it. You think it's just a coincidence then that this was found after she went missing? And the next door neighbour said he saw the little girl walking with an older man, looking scared. You can go fucking interrogate him yourself!" Bobby added, no longer playing the calm act.

"And you're sure this wasn't her father? A step-father, perhaps or an uncle?" The cops asked.

"The girls only living family is her grandmother and her sister, I'm pretty sure we can rule it out as family. And why would she be scared if it was someone she knew? And before you ask if there are any male figures in Alex's life, she already told us there was no one it could be." Bobby sat down, satisfied with what he had just delivered to the police.

"Well, this isn't anything concrete. Neighbours can be mistaken. The girl could have cut herself —"

"She's a fucking little kid, even if she did cut herself that's a lot of fucking blood to lose and she needs to be found! Look, I can understand when it's an adult missing, adults are supposed to be able to take care of themselves. But she's just a little girl — she's only ever been with her grandmother and sister. Even if she just ran away, this should be enough to raise concern and start the investigation. Can't you like, pull our phone records and see the call?"

"We can trace any calls that you've made or have had come in, but that's about it. If you can tell us around what time this person called, we might be able to trace them. But there's no telling if this will come up with anything — could have easily used a neighbours phone, or broke in and used the phone — could have used a payphone even."

"I don't think so. One of the times he called, he had Becky right there to talk into the phone. If it's traceable, it'll be to exactly where she is." Bobby replied confidently.

"Alright, we'll start investigating. But that means you are no longer able to go around doing your own investigation — no more walking through potential crime scenes. No more interrogating witnesses or suspects — understood, Mercer?" The cop asked. Bobby grinned at his brothers.

"Hey, like you said — Mercer. We do what we want, officer. We'll try to stay out of your way." And with that, the brothers left the room and went back to the car.

—

"So they said they'd start it early?" Jack asked when his brothers returned.

"That's what we said Jackie," Bobby replied, starting the car. Jack shook Alex slightly until she opened her eyes.

"Mm, what?" She asked, yawning and stretching. She saw that they were at the police station and immediately sat up. "What did I miss? What happened? Did they say they'd —"

"They're going to investigate. They're going to try seeing who called us by looking at the phone records, see if they can find a location." Jeremiah told her from the front seat. Alex let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God..." She muttered. She saw Jack watching her, and blushed slightly, not used to him paying such close attention to her. She looked away out the window on her side. "So the shirt was enough?" She asked.

"That, and the fact that one of your neighbours saw some man taking her and walking off. Said he thought it was her _dad _or somethin'." Angel replied. Alex felt a weight drop in her stomach, her throat catching.

"...they... they saw her. They saw him. They could have stopped..." She stopped speaking. It didn't matter. Sure, they could have done a lot of things. Obviously, none of her neighbours had. She was sure that someone else had probably seen the guy taking her sister away, and did nothing. She wished suddenly that the bastard who had her sister would kidnap her. Sure, it would be scary and she might not survive... but... she wanted to be with her sister. She wanted to try to make her feel better, tell her that everything would be all right. Being on the outside like this, not knowing how her sister was feeling or how she was being treated... it was hell for her.

Bobby pulled into the driveway in front of the house, and turned around in his seat so that he was facing Jack and Alex.

"Look, I'm sure you two want to help investigate, but I think someone should be here. Why don't you guys take a break and stay here for a little while, while me and the boys do some more investigating of our own? We'll keep you posted, and you don't have to stay here all the time — just for a little while." Jack opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it. What would it matter? Bobby didn't care what he said — he'd just shout at him and tell him to get the fuck out of the car and to stay. Besides, maybe this would be a good time to talk to Alex and tell her that... that they just couldn't do this. This 'dating' thing. They couldn't risk it, not while this guy was still at large.

"Sure, whatever," Jack muttered. "Come on Alex, let's go inside. And you guys better not get into any trouble while 'investigating' because I don't feel like coming to get you out of it." Bobby grinned.

"Why Jackie," he replied, feigning shock. "Would we ever get in trouble?"

Jack and Alex walked into the house after watching Bobby and his brothers drive away, and suddenly it seemed quiet. Alex's grandmother, it turned out, had gone to lie down for awhile. That left just Alex and Jack up, alone. Something Jack wasn't exactly looking forward to, considering everytime he was alone with Alex, he wanted to hold her. Kiss her. Make out with her. Do other things that... considering the current situation, they really shouldn't. And like he kept trying to tell himself, she was his friend. Rachel was supposed to be his girlfriend.

Rachel... Jack looked at his answering machine and was surprised that there was no messages. She normally would have left at least three by now. He decided, for once, to call her. This would be the break up call — it wasn't that he didn't like her, necessarily, it was just that... she seemed to pale in comparison to Alex now. And even though now wasn't the time to get into a relationship with Alex, he knew he wanted to cut off his relationship with Rachel. He had no choice but to do that.

"I'm... going to go take a shower." Alex replied suddenly, heading for the stairs. "Jack —" She seemed to decide against whatever it was that she had been going to say, and continued up the stairs. Jack watched her until finally he couldn't see her anymore, and walked over to his phone. He knew that Rachel would be home right now, because she wasn't supposed to be at work yet. He dialed her number for the first time since they had started 'dating' and waited. It rang — and rang again. He got her answering machine. He hung up. _She's always home around this time... she normally calls around this time, actually. Where the hell is she?_ Jack jumped as the phone rang and he quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" He replied into the receiver. He heard the voice of the kidnapper on the other end.

"Hello, Jack Mercer. How is dear Alex?" The kidnapper asked.

"None of your fucking business," Jack told him. "Where's —?"

"Becky? Oh, around... are you missing anything Jack?" The kidnapper asked suddenly. Jack felt confused — should he be missing anything?

"No," Jack replied, not so sure.

"Oh, are you sure Jack? Perhaps a little girlfriend of yours?" The kidnapper added. Jack looked up at the stairs Alex had just gone up. No... she had just left! She couldn't be gone already! There was just no way.

"Alex is right here you fucking —"

"Now, now, now Jack. Surely you don't mean to say that Alex is your girlfriend? Oh, gee, now I'm depressed. I kidnapped a Miss Rachel, she said _she _was your girlfriend. Was that just wishful thinking? Or have you just moved on with someone else?" Jack froze, almost dropping the phone. The kidnapper had taken Rachel — a foolish move, considering Jack didn't care that much about her, but — he knew that Jack was seeing her. Even when he hadn't really talked to her that much. And now he knew for a fact that Alex would be on the hitlist. She would get kidnapped if they weren't careful.

"Listen, you —" Jack stopped speaking. The kidnapper had hung up the phone. Jack swore loudly and slammed it down onto the cradle, knocking the phone right off the table it was sitting on. He put his head in his hands and just stayed like that. Everyone he cared about was in danger. The reality of it had set in when Becky was kidnapped, but...

Suddenly things seemed much more desperate, and a lot worse. This guy didn't care who he kidnapped, when he kidnapped them or how many people he finally he had. Ultimately, the only thing he wanted, was to make Jack suffer. And slowly, he was doing just that.

**A/N:** Bit of a short chapter (I think) but enough to get one out and keep you up to date on what should be going on currently in this story. R&R and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and who has continued reviewing throughout this entire story.


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